The War to End All Wars
by Igor Lollipop
Summary: Takes place Post TP. Ganondorf's fallen and Midna's left. Now all that's left to do is rebuild a kingdom...but how is that possible in the midst of the worst war Hyrule has had to face? Read profile for full summary. AU. OOC warning. Read for pairings. :D
1. Prologue

**A/N: I got the idea for this story after beating the game because I so desperately needed a direct sequel. I'm not quite sure how much anyone's going to like this story, but I thought I'd give it a shot, anyway. Enjoy. :D Tell me what you think! Message me or review!**

**So, this chapter is basically the prologue (hence the chapter title). Anyway, you really don't have to read this chapter if you saw the end of the game because the only thing I added was dialogue... Well, also, the end of the chapter is what they do after the mirror's shattered, so you'll probably want to read that. :3  
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Within the first seconds that they found themselves outside the castle, it was unbearably quiet. The two fated ones looked toward the castle with hearts slamming against their chests. And it seemed that only a second later that the whole thing went up in flames. He could hear her breathe catch and felt his own heart stop. They barely had time to register this event as, just a millisecond later, a demonic neighing broke through the soundless atmosphere. Just a few feet away, the dark-skinned man had appeared on the back of his demonic, black Gerudo stallion.

With a tone of utter disbelief, the woman beside him cried, "Link, look at what he's holding!" His blue eyes settled on the horrific sight of Midna's helmet, part of the Fused Shadows. Beside himself, Link shot his left hand back to the hilt of the Master Sword as the helmet broke into pieces and hit the ground. Link felt as if he had gone blind with anger because it seemed to him that there were many copies of Ganondorf's horse in the distance, only they were lighter... Wait a minute, those were a pack of ghostly horses, and Ganondorf was the leader! There was nothing that could be done; Those horses were going to stampede, and they were going to be killed. His eyes closed tightly as he waited for the pain to begin.

The pain, however, never came. Link glanced around wildly and saw that Zelda, who was still beside him, seemed to be praying. He looked into the distance as each one of the light spirits spurted out of water, each with an orb of light appearing over them. The lights transferred over to Zelda, and she found herself holding a quiver of light arrows. "Link..." She began in a soft voice. "Chosen Hero! Lend us the last of your power!" The Princess said to him as she bowed. He might have laughed at the fact that royalty was bowing to him if this wasn't such an important occasion. Link settled for a smile and held out his hand.

"Let's take down Ganondorf." She looked back up at him, smiled, and took his hand. A light flashed, and the next thing Link knew was that he and Zelda were sitting atop Epona.

"I'll use my light arrows to paralyze Ganondorf, but you have to attack him and keep him within my range!" She stated. Link nodded and tugged on his mare's reigns.

"Let's go, Epona!" The horse whined and lifted her two legs off of the ground when he tugged and then ran forward full speed. _'Funny,'_ He found himself remarking as they charged toward Ganondorf's black stallion, _'Epona bucks at the sight of a small Deku Baba, but she charges full speed ahead at the most evil man in this world.'_

"Link!" Zelda yelled at him suddenly. There was an orb hanging above Ganondorf that suddenly hit the ground and grew into several ghostly horses. Out of pure instinct, Link swung at the horses as they charged, and both he and Zelda were knocked off of Epona. The princess rubbed her backside and watched the horses disappeared. Ganondorf glanced over his shoulder and had his sword slide to a stop. Such a kind action for an evil man. Link gave Zelda his hand to get to her feet and climbed back on Epona. Then, he helped her up, too.

"Alright, note to self: 'Steer clear of the ghost horses'." He heard Zelda give a small giggle behind him as she notched a light arrow into her bow. Link pulled on Epona's reigns, and she sped toward the stallion. Ganondorf sneered.

"I have given you an ample amount of time, if I do say so myself, to at least learn how to sword-fight from the top of your horse. You may possess the power of the Hero of Time, but you are certainly nothing like him." Something flashed in his eyes as he said this. Then, both he and Link were charging at each other head on with their weapons raised. Zelda might have liked to look away if she didn't have a job to do. As Link charged, Zelda aimed. When her arrowhead looked like it would hit the right spot, she released the bowstring, and the arrow whizzed past Link's ear.

It was a dead hit. Ganondorf shrieked in anger and pain as the light washed over his body and made it impossible to move. He slumped forward on his stallion, who continued to dutifully gallop on. "Now!" Link heard Zelda whisper in his ear. She grasped his waist as he urged Epona to go four times faster than her current speed. He felt her hands leave him as he got onto the right of Ganondorf and swung. The sorcerer groaned in pain once more and urged his steed to move even faster. Zelda notched another arrow into her bow.

Link readjusted himself on his own horse and urged her to move faster once more. Zelda, as she had before, wobbled a little on the mare but aimed for Ganondorf's back as they closed in behind him. The arrow whizzed past Link's ear once again, and he urged Epona to go her fastest before swinging again. After getting hit and increasing his speed, Ganondorf tried his ghoul horse trick again, but Link managed to avoid it. After several more arrow and sword combinations, Ganondorf fell off his horse and slid in the ground, causing a dirt cloud to form around him.

"This time he has to be down for sure." Link muttered as he brought Epona a little closer before jumping off of her. Zelda scooted herself forward on the mare so that she could hold the reigns.

"In the past it has taken each hero many battles before they took down Ganondorf. And none of them even managed to kill him..." Zelda added in a whisper. She had confidence in Link; Besides, Ganondorf was extremely old, wasn't he? Surely he had to be getting weaker? Her eyes glanced at the dirt cloud as it dissipated, and Ganondorf stood up. _'Damn.'_ The triforce symbol on his hand was glowing. While Ganondorf held that symbol, he would never die... She looked up as a barrier appeared around Link and Ganondorf, knocking back Epona. "Hey!" The Princess shouted at Ganondorf; She notched another arrow. She hadn't been aiming to kill before, but now since Ganondorf was very weak anyway...

"Release that arrow, my dear Zelda, and I will slay you sooner than I had planned." Ganondorf told her in a sinister tone. "The saying is ladies first," He said to Link, "but you are sure to put up more of a fight than her. All I have to do is pin her down, grab her neck, and snap..."

"That's enough!" Link snarled so that the dark lord would stop listing the gruesome ways he would kill the princess. "I'll beat you before you even have the chance." He unsheathed his sword one more time, and Ganondorf smiled menacingly. The sky had suddenly become covered with dark clouds from the moment the dark lord had stood up...

Ganondorf laughed and held out the long sword before him. Now he looked like he had gone mad. "An impressive-looking blade...but nothing more." The fatal wound that the sages had dealt him was glowing as well as the hilt of his sword. "Would you hear my desire?" Lightning struck in the not too far distance as he unsheathed the glowing desire. "To take this foul blade... and use it to blot out the light forever. Starting with the hero who has managed to escape with his life for too long followed by the foolish wench who has been giving him the power to do so!" The sorcerer was speaking in such a carefully controlled voice that it was downright terrifying. Link frowned at the dark lord.

"Enough talk! If you have something to say, say it with your sword!" Link shouted. Ganondorf chuckled.

"If you are eager to rush to your death, then so be it!" He wasted no time and immediately charged forward with the weapon that was supposed to have ended his life. Link quickly raised his sword to block Ganondorf's; They began to push against the other's sword. Now was the chance to see who was the stronger man. With ease, Link began to push his hardest against Ganondorf's sword. He did this for a few minutes and was half expecting to push the man away when Ganondorf pushed all of his weight onto Link's sword. Sweat trickled down Link's face. He grunted as Ganondorf continued to push. "D-damn you..." Finally, Ganondorf pushed his hardest, causing Link to stumble backwards.

Ganondorf laughed before slamming his sword against Link's unprotected body; Link proceeded to hit the barrier, which sapped more strength out of him. "Link!" Zelda shouted before she knew she was saying a word. She quickly notched an arrow and aimed at Ganondorf.

"Put it away, Zelda." Link grunted as he crawled to a standing position. "I let my guard down; It won't happen again." He promised both Zelda and Ganondorf as he jumped in time to avoid Ganondorf's sword. He backflipped twice so that he was farther away. Ganondorf wore a smile as he took slow steps toward the warrior. Link stood totally still as he was approached.

"What a fool you are." Ganondorf whispered. Link's eyes blazed with determination as he seized his shield and slammed it against the unsuspecting Ganondorf. He faltered for a minute, but it was a minute too long. Link managed to get in a jump strike that made him hit his own barrier. Ganondorf's face no longer looked amused. "I am through playing games!" He spat as he rushed at Link with the same motion as before. This time, Link was ready. He blocked and began to push as hard as he could as fast as he could, and it worked. Ganondorf stumbled, giving Link an ample amount of time to strike him.

Link went in for another attack that caused Ganondorf to hit the barrier again and fall to the ground. "The final blow, Link!" A relieved Zelda called to him as the barrier dissipated and she came running to him. He nodded to her. Link pulled up the Master Sword as he jumped and slammed it down, into gaping hole in Ganondorf's chest. Ganondorf's scream of agony was almost unbearable. The clouds began to disperse, and Link jumped away from the body.

Ganondorf, however, would not end it there. He slowly got up and glared at the pair of them. "After all of these years... Do not think it ends here! I have not watched times change so much just to have my victory torn away from me!" It was obvious that he was having trouble breathing as he was heaving loud breathes through his mouth. "The history of light and shadow will be written in blood!" He spat at them. Ganondorf tried to move forward, and Link only kind of placed himself between the Dark Lord and Zelda. Then, he stopped. First, Ganondorf stared blankly at his hand, only to cry as he watched the Triforce of Power fade. He looked up and stared blankly for a moment. For no apparent reason, a minute later, his eyes rolled back into his head, and he fell to the ground.

Link only spared him the slightest glance before he looked to the sky in the distance. The sky was beautiful now; The sun was shining and the light spirits were looming over the nearest hill. He had to do a double-take. They begun to disappear and that was when he noticed a small speck of black sitting there. "Midna..." He began in an unbelievable whisper. Zelda turned to direct her eyes to where he was looking and also saw her. Without a warning, Link took off as fast as his weak legs would carry him. Zelda held out her hand and opened her mouth to say something, but then decided against it. She turned around and yanked on the hilt of the Master Sword. It made a squelching sound as it came lose from Ganondorf's body, complete with dripping of blood.

When Link reached the top of the hill, the figure no longer looked like Midna; The figure was taller and it had a long cloak draped over its back. Link stared in shock as it stood up and turned around. "What? Say something!" The woman ordered. Yes, it was definitely Midna. Her hair was much longer and pinned in a somewhat complicated manner. Her eyes were long, beautiful, and orange. She had tribal markings on her forehead. And, most importantly, she was _much_ taller. Link gulped and blinked. Her shirt covered what was important and her black skirt went all the way down to her ankles although it was high-cut at the sides. "Am I so beautiful that you've no words left?" She teased with her same old charm. Link smiled after his shock disappeared.

"I...guess so..." Was all he could find himself saying.

* * *

"Midna, please, do you have to leave?" Zelda asked the Twilight Princess. After Link had discovered her in her true form, Midna had warped him and Zelda to Hyrule field, which was now empty of all its beasts. At least, most of them. Midna smiled.

"I have been away from my people for too long, but I do owe you both for everything you've done for me." Midna replied with a sad smile. "You two are so selfless, and you taught me how to act the same; I owe you so much."

"You can always visit." Link offered; Midna only smiled in response.

"I'll warp to the Mirror Chamber...--"

"You can't leave without a proper goodbye, Midna." Zelda remarked as she waved a finger in the Princess' face.

* * *

The sun was setting once they were in the mirror chamber. "Midna, there was a reason why the Gods' left this mirror here. They wanted Twilight and Light to be connected; To be allies. I know that is why they left the mirror here. It was their desire that we should meet!" Zelda insisted to Midna, who had her back turned as she stared at the wall in the distance.

"...Maybe you're on to something, Princess..." Midna said in a heavy voice as she turned her head toward Zelda and Link. "...but I don't think they wanted us to meet like this. My people surely have not forgotten how we were rejected and shipped off to another world. And your people will not forget about the evils of the twilight any time soon... If many of your subjects think like you, Zelda, then maybe you'll do alright." Midna turned herself so that her back was the only thing facing them, then she stopped on the stairs of the mirror.

Link made to speak, but Midna turned around and spoke to him instead. "Link, thanks for everything," she said to him with her small, sad smile. "Sorry for giving you such a hard time in the beginning."

He smiled and chuckled lightly. "No harm, no foul; You'll have plenty of time to make up things to Zelda and I by helping us rebuild Hyrule Castle..." Her smile started to look painful. She closed her eyes and took in a deep breath.

"Link, I..." A tear trickled out of the corner of her eye and down her cheek. "I, um..." The tear began to flow through the air. "Er, see you l-later..." Her voice broke as she pushed the tear along through the air. The tear flowed through the currents until it hit the mirror. Zelda and Link's eyes snapped to the mirror as it began to crack.

"Wha--...? Midna!" Link looked toward her. "What are you...? Why...?" His expression was painful to look at. Zelda swallowed hard as the mirror cracked all over so that there was no whole piece left. Her eyes swung over to the other princess as she ran to the top of the stairs, onto the platform.

"Sorry." Midna could only get herself to whisper. The light of the mirror engulfed her body. She stared at her only two friends as her body began to fade away and transferred into the larger portal. _'Link, I...love you.'_

Link and Zelda both snapped their attention back to the mirror as the sound of it shattering echoed throughout the area although they thought everyone in Hyrule should have heard it. They looked back toward where Midna had disappeared with hopeless expressions on their faces**.  
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"Only the true ruler can shatter the mirror...which is why Zant could only break it into pieces." Link repeated what Midna had once told him. He was leading Epona, who was carrying Zelda, toward Hyrule Castle. The three of them were extremely exhausted from the day.

"Link, you can stay in the Castle if you'd like... Of course, there really isn't a single place suitable for _anyone_ to sleep in, but..." Zelda muttered from atop the mare.

"Actually, Zelda..." Link said as he allowed Epona to stop and look up at the princess. "Why don't we head over to Kakariko village? They won't fuss over your presence and we can come back to the Castle in the morning..."

Zelda seemed to consider this option. "Well, I _would_ hate to sleep in the place where I was imprisoned after finally being freed... and I do not wish to deal with the fuss of the villagers... Yes, alright. Lead the way, Link." She added with a small laugh. She pushed herself back a little bit as he climbed back up.

"Sorry, girl." He apologized to Epona as she snorted at being ridden at full speed again. "I promise that you'll get a good night's sleep in a day or so; There'll be tons of carrots in it for you." Link added as he patted her head. This seemed to cheer her up a little.

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It seemed to take too long to get to Kakariko in Link's opinion. When they reached the village, night had fallen, and Zelda was sound asleep behind him with her arms wrapped around his waist somewhat. Much to his luck, when they came near the inn, Renado seemed to be sitting there, waiting for him. "Link!" He shouted when he spotted Epona closing in on him. "And, oh, dear... Princess Zelda?" Renado quirked an eyebrow. "Is she alright?" Link nodded.

"We did it, Renado; We defeated Ganondorf!" He exclaimed. "Ilia, Colin, and the others... Were they...?" Renado nodded.

"Yes. Rusl came to get them earlier." He replied. Link nodded once more.

"That's good to hear. I'll be joining them in a few days' time." Epona snorted disdainfully. Both men chuckled.

"Yes, yes... Well, I suppose that you and the Princess would like to stay here to rest up for the night? After all, you're going to have to face those mobs of people congratulating you tomorrow." Renado said with a small smile. "If you two need it, I can heal you in the morning." Link nodded his thanks and nudged Zelda a little. Her eyes opened a little.

"We here?" She asked groggily. He chuckled as he slowly hopped off of Epona and helped Zelda down. Link turned to face Renado.

"You are officially the only Hylian that knows how unladylike the Princess can ask, consider it a privilege." Link joked. "Could you take Epona to the spring? Maybe she can feel a little better that way. Ah, how Ilia would yell at me..." He added with a small smile. Renaldo led Epona away by the reigns and Link led Zelda into the inn and up the stairs inside, somehow.

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**A/N: Like I said, nothing special...but that's what I have so far. Tell me what you think, please. D: But, please be nice. I'm awful at grammar and I was half-asleep when I wrote this. -If you have any ideas on a good title, message me or tell me in a review...**


	2. Reunions

**A/N: Thank you, thank you, thank you! Thank you to everyone for reading, and especially thank you to InuGirl and Radiant Twilight Angel. I seriously appreciate those reviews--they inspired me to write this chapter. You wanna see more chapters? Keep up the reviews! They fuel me. :3**

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Zelda awoke the next morning to sun shining through a hole in the ceiling. She shielded her eyes and slowly sat up. The room was empty, Link's bed made. The princess blinked, heaved herself off the bed, and headed downstairs. The only person downstairs was a little girl who looked oddly familiar; She resembled Renaldo a lot.

"Good afternoon, Princess!" The little girl greeted her with a small bow.

_'Afternoon?'_ Zelda asked herself. "Did Link go somewhere?" She asked the girl in a groggy tone who responded with an eager nod.

"Yes, he went to Death Mountain some time ago."

Zelda rubbed the sleep out of her eyes and knelt down before the girl. "What's your name?"

"L-Luda, Princess. I'm the daughter of the shaman, Renaldo." She replied. Aha! That explained the resemblance.

"Did Link say when he was coming back?"

Luda shook her head. "He said that he'd be back by the time you woke up." She replied with a small shrug. "Sorry." The princess laughed.

"Don't worry about it. Thank you, Luda." And, with a small wave, Zelda exited the inn and entered the sunlight.

Well, it certainly was the afternoon. The dust and sand were blowing about the village, and the sun was shining low in the sky. Zelda blushed as the Gorons she passed bowed to her. She searched the spring for Epona and spotted her near the falls.

Zelda sat down before the spring, removed her boots, and put her aching feet in the healing waters. Much better. Then, she placed two fingers in her mouth and blew to a familiar tune. Epona neighed and came running toward her; It was the same tune that Link played with the horse grass.

"You've never heard me do that before, how'd you know the notes?" Link's deep voice came from behind her. She looked up and smiled.

"It's one of the songs that was passed down in our family. I guess it's the same for you and Epona."

"I just talked to Luda, and she said you just woke up. I figured you might have met a witch at some point while I was gone and pricked your finger." He joked as he stroked Epona's snout. Zelda put her boots back on and got to her feet.

"Very funny, Link. You're a real comedian." She said with a roll of her eyes. They were joking and having light conversation, but they both knew it was only a matter of time until the emotional wounds Midna afflicted upon them kicked in. "What did you go to Death Mountain for?" Zelda added.

"Ah. Well, I went to inform them that the threat was over. And then, well, they held a few wrestling matches that I had to endure. When I finally convinced them I had to leave to take you back to the castle, one of the little Gorons continued to punch me as I left; I guess he wanted me to fight him..." Link indicated several bruises on his right arm.

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Shortly after that conversation had passed and Link bid the villagers goodbye with the promise to visit, he and Zelda headed back toward Hyrule where they were to get mobbed by delighted crowds. "Are you ready, Hero?" Zelda whispered to him as they entered the town.

"You know," He said with ease as he placed his arms behind his head, "I never thought _I _would be a hero. I mean, I'm a good ranch-hand, a good friend, and an all around good guy. But if someone were to have told me before Ilia and the others were kidnaped that I was going to be a hero to Hyrule, I wouldn't have believed them."

Zelda smiled as crowds of people screamed and lunged toward them; A particular group of girls was pushing its way past the rest of the crowd to see Link. "You still _are_ all of those things, Link. But now everyone will look up to you and see another good characteristic added." Knights, or at least what was left of them, lunged forward to settle down the crowd and keep them away from Zelda and Link.

"There's no need to seal us off from the people," Zelda said to the guards nearest her. "However, there is a very big need to rebuild the castle." She added with a wink. The guards immediately ran off together and headed for the Castle. Zelda perched herself on the edge of the fountain once they made it to the center of town.

"People of Castle Town, my dear subjects!" Zelda called with a booming voice. Link was surprised that someone so petite could make such a noise. The princess was still mostly covered in grime, bruises, and cuts, but she didn't seem to mind. "It is thanks to you, in part, that the evil Twili, Zant, did not take over Hyrule. For that, you all owe yourselves a pat on the back." She paused as she gathered her thoughts. "I also owe you my thanks for not freaking out too much when Hyrule was blanketed in twilight.

"However, the one who I owe the most thanks to is Link. Because of his bravery and his selflessness, Hyrule was rescued from a terrible fate; I was also rescued from a terrible fate thanks to him." Once again, she paused and seemed to be choosing her words carefully. "But just because Zant was an evil Twili doesn't mean that they all are,"

A dull murmur began to grow into a louder noise at this statement; The crowd did not like where there ruler was going with this. "There is one more hero, or shall I say heroine, that we owe thanks to. She's not here right now, for she is a princess as well and needs to take care of her own people. Due to her selflessness, Princess Midna was able to work cooperatively with Link," _'Well, not at first.'_ They both thought at the same time. "and rescue us in our time of need. The time of fear is over, and the time of prosperity shall begin!"

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Link had been hesitant in leaving Zelda so that he could return home. Sure, she had a few guards there to protect her, but many of them had abandoned her in her time of need. Hopefully, though, nothing else too terrible would start up for a good length of time.

He allowed Epona to continue along Hyrule Field at a slow pass although the sun was starting to set. When at last he spotted the familiar trees of Faron, he lightened up his mood. "See that, girl? We're almost home! Come on, let's move faster for the home stretch!" Epona neighed her approval as he pulled on the reigns, and they headed for home at the fastest pace possible.

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When Link arrived back in the Ordon Providence, he steered Epona into the village. "LINK'S HOME!" Talo and Malo, who had been firing slingshots at the hornet hive, shouted as soon as they noticed the flash of green cloth in the corner of their eyes. Link smiled and dropped down from Epona as Beth, Colin, and Ilia enveloped him in one huge hug.

"You're home!" Beth exclaimed unnecessarily. After hugging him, Ilia skipped beside Epona to check her for wounds.

"Link!" She groaned, and he externally winced. He came beside her and bent down. Sure enough, she had a deep gash in her front, right leg. Ilia, much to his surprise, released a heavy sigh. "But I know that it's just a sign that Epona helped you defeat evil and return to us, and that's all that matters." Link smiled and internally sighed with relief.

"I've been cooking something great all day in hopes that you would return today," Colin's mother, Uli, the matriarch of the village, told him. She was holding in her arms a baby girl. Link smiled. So new life had been born in the midst of such an evil time; It's a good thing the village had been attacked much earlier.

"I can't wait to finally eat a home-cooked meal." Link sighed, his mouth watering with delight as he picked up the scent of what Uli was cooking.

"What've ya been eatin', Link?" Talo asked excitedly. Link mused to himself for a second.

"Let's see...everything from rats, to Yeti soup, to birds." He didn't add that he ate the birds and rats that he caught on his journey as a wolf.

"You're awfully skinny," Beth said with a frown. "Fill 'im up, Uli!"

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"We were afraid that something happened to you while you were fighting in the castle," Rusl explained to him some time later. "After you were nearly taking out by those arrows and Lizards, we were sure that something would happen. It took a lot of convincing on Ashei's part to make me realize that you'd be alright."

"Well," Link murmured from where he sat on the picnic table. All of the children were asleep, and the adults were gathered around a fire. "It was really close. This whole journey was a huge experience." _'In more ways than one.'_ He mentally added.

"So, Link," The mayor and Ilia's father, Bo, began hesitantly. "Who started all of the trouble in Hyrule?"

"I guess that a hopeless twili named Zant came to this world and demanded that Princess Zelda surrender to him otherwise he would destroy the citizens of Hyrule and force her to watch." Link replied. Someone whistled. "So, being the princess that she is, she gave in to him and settled to a life as a prisoner while she watched her people disappear under the twilight's influence. I guess that Ganondorf had been exiled from this world and somehow wormed his way into the Twili." There were collective gasps at the name. "He took advantage of Zant's anger and anguish and convinced him that he would always take care of him if he were to get help in return. So Zant damned this Kingdom to the Twilight and had Ganondorf handle the situation with Zelda. After I visited the Princess a second time, Ganondorf revealed his true colors by erecting a barrier.

"He called the castle his when I met up with him a few days ago. After his little spiel, he dissolved into twilight and possessed Zelda, who i then had to fight to take his influence out of here. Then, he transformed into a beast, just like it says in the history books. My third fight with him took place behind the Castle with Epona and Zelda helping me. And the last battle was hand to hand combat."

Everyone remained thoughtful and quiet around the fire. "Why was this thing, Zant, so upset?" Pergie asked.

"Well," Link paused, not sure if he should mention anything about Midna.

"And how did you manage to do all of this on your own, Link?" Uli asked with a surprised and fearful expression. It was now or never.

"I didn't; I had help," He explained. "After Ilia and Colin were kidnaped, I headed to Faron woods, but it was covered in Twilight, and I was attacked by a monster. It brought me to Hyrule Castle," Link decided to leave out the wolf part for now. "I was freed from the dungeon by another twili, Midna. She helped me out for the whole journey; She was always there for me..." He felt something give way in his throat, so he swallowed. "I found out not too long ago that she was the Twilight Princess; You could've never guessed by her attitude. Zant was jealous of Midna because he thought he was next in line for the throne. He whittled away his days pleasing the royal family, but everyone could tell that that kind of power in his hands was dangerous.

"Once Ganondorf and Zant were working together, Zant stalked Midna and used Ganondorf's power to turn her into an imp and banish her from the Twilight Realm."

"What happened to her, Link?" Uli asked in a soft, motherly tone. No doubt she had picked up the fond way Link had spoken about Midna.

Link smiled bitterly. "She was a Princess and after I defeated Ganondorf, after I believed her dead, she returned to the Twilight Realm and broke the mirror that connected the Light world and the Twilight world." He remarked.

There was silence for a long time, and then Sera asked, "Is it true, Link? Was that Ganondorf really the same one that plagued Princess Zelda and that young hero during the Imprisoning War?"

He remained quiet, thoughtful for a minute before answering, "Yes, Sera, I think it's safe to say that he was the same power-hungry man."

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**A/N: Another short but sweet chapter. They're going to be rather boring for a while, probably, because I have to set up the plot of the story; It'll get good, though, I promise. Please read and review--it's the only way I'll remember to update. :D**


	3. The Spell

The War to End All Wars

**A/N: Guess what! I've decided to add two other characters to this story which changes the plot a bit, but I'm sure I can handle it, and so can all of you. :3 It'll be **_**fun,**_** I promise! **

**Disclaimer: The only thing I own in this story is the plot.  


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**A few months had passed since Ganondorf had perished. The castle's construction was going as well as one could hope, and Zelda figured there might be one more floor in another month or two. Ah, that was the problem with castles; They were too big. She had a spiteful moment where she reflected that the ones rebuilding this castle should have been Midna and Ganondorf, but she quickly dropped the idea; Both names were dead from this world and would most likely never be used in a long conversation again.

Zelda kicked back outside on a warmer, sunny day. Because she had been sleeping in the basement, she had explored the area a little bit. Boy, was she surprised. She discovered an old vault with old relics, books, and other things of the sort. So now she had been taken to reading history books about how far back her family and the hero of time had known each other. _'Funny,'_ she reflected to herself, _'It seems that all of the past Zeldas have been in love with the hero of time, but none of them ever did a thing. Pity...'_ She turned another page. _'Odd how the relationship between heroes works. Perhaps they all embody the same spirit that makes them who they are?'_

Maybe she had been trying to wrap her mind around these books for too long. Currently, she was reading about the Imprisoning War, something that she could definitely trace herself to. She could even trace Link and the Ganondorf they had defeated not too long ago. _'It appears that two princesses, me being one of them, have been directly related to the affairs of the Imprisoning War. Since Ganondorf stole the Triforce, and it broke off and entered Zelda and Link of that time, two Princesses have been born with the Triforce of Wisdom in their possession. One of the Link's was meant to hold it, but he had to gather the pieces... And the Link of this time was born with it in him...'_ She sighed and closed the particularly large book; Maybe the events _weren't_ directly connected after all.

**xxxxxxxxxx**

As odd as it was, it was hard for him to wrap his mind around the fact that an era of peace had fallen upon Hyrule; He wasn't used to walking around without having to unsheathe the Master Sword every few steps as he came upon a new enemy. The children didn't notice his unease when he was relaxing with them; Well, all except Ilia and Colin. "Are you unhappy being confined to a life of herding with your average friends?" Ilia asked him with a faint smile one night; They were laying behind the stable as the sun set below the hills. Link blinked at her and feigned being hurt.

"What are you talking about? Are you trying to imply that you don't like me here all the time?" Link knew two people who were unhappy with the shift back to an ordinary lifestyle: Malo and Talo. Malo missed owning a shop (thus losing the ability to be snippy with Link when he bought things from behind the safety of a counter). Talo missed being able to watch out for feral beasts and wanted the lonely confines of a nearly empty village.

Ilia giggled. "Don't be silly," she replied with a larger smile now, "you just seem to be having trouble adjusting." _'Especially with those letters you get from the Princess every once in a while.' _She mentally added.

Link chuckled quietly. "You would, too, if you were used to being attacked from all sides and knowing that every new enemy you took on could spell the end of you." He knew that he had changed since he had finished his adventure, but he couldn't help it; There are some things that you just can't forget. Ilia rolled over on her stomach and turned so she was facing him.

"Tell me about it." She said for probably about the one-hundreth time since he came home. Link groaned.

"Il, you know that I've answered you that too many times to count, right?" She reached up and poked his nose.

"Well, I know you aren't being totally open with me." She shot back. Now he groaned inwardly.

_'Damn straight I'm not being totally open with you, I can't be.'_ He thought to himself. "Like I've told you a thousand times, it was scary; It was the scariest thing I've ever had to do, and I don't ever want to do it again." Well, that may have been a _slight_ lie. At least he could beat up the random monsters from the forest that came in and bothered the village every so often.

Ilia didn't reply with anything else, but he knew that she wasn't satisfied with that little. She could tell that he didn't really like to talk about a lot of it most of the time - especially around twilight. She had learned pretty quickly not to mention Midna. "Alright, alright," yawned Ilia. "Let's call it a night." He nodded his agreement and slowly got up, deep in thought once again. The two of them began to walk off, neither one of them noticing that Link's shadow wasn't following him.

**xxxxxxxxxx**

Zelda found herself in the vault once again; She had finished the book about the Imprisoning War, so now she was onto the next book. The bookcase was tall, and she had to stand on the tip of her toes to put the book in its rightful place. Accidentally, she lost her balance and managed to catch herself on the bookshelf, but knocked a book off the shelf. The princess sighed disdainfully. "Zelda, you klutz..." She groaned to herself as she bent down to pick up the book.

The book's cover was covered with layers of dust. An old one, huh? Zelda blinked and blew with all her might. She realized that the book was leather bound and had an eye with teardrops over the top of the eye. It was simply titled _'The Sheikah'. _

Boy, was the book heavy. Zelda bent down, opened it, and began to thumb through the pages. Inside the book was the story of the Sheikahs and how, as she had read in the Imprisoning War book, the Princess had managed to elude Ganondorf for seven years by disguising herself as Sheik. The book wasn't just heavy; It was old. It looked like no one had had the decency to so much as glance at the book in years. The pages were either completely yellow or yellowing. She had to be careful when turning the pages not to rip them. When Zelda opened to the very back, a yellowing page flew out.

It appeared to be either a very long set of instructions or a homemade spell of some sort. The top of it said 'Sheik'. Zelda had to blink several times. This was definitely the handwriting of a female... While she knew that it was unsafe to try a custom made magic spell - especially one written by someone that she probably didn't know, she really wanted to see what the spell _did._ So, lo and behold, Zelda began to busy herself with learning how to do the spell. She stood up, did as it said, got together her piece of mind, and held the paper.

She didn't have to say words aloud, simply think them. Well, she wasn't _too_ bad with non-verbal spells, Zelda supposed. The Princess put the paper on a nearby table so that she could use her hands as the spell instructed. She made a whirling motion, concentrated, and repeated the words in her hand. To her surprise, something happened.

Zelda was enveloped in a beautiful blue, crystal-like wind, and the triforce of Wisdom on her hand was glowing brightly. She let her mind fall blank as she felt herself change, and then... the world went black.

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**A/N: Short again, sorry! I've already started the next chapter--I just wanted to break this chapter somewhere nice.**


	4. Reversal

**A/N: Wow. Eight reviews already. Thank you all!! Seriously, the reviews made me smile. Um, about the character pairings… Haha. Well, here's the thing, my wonderful readers&reviewers… I've liked the ZeldaxLink pairing since I was able to play SNES. xD However, I really like Midna and Link, so… it's a mystery. :D**

**This is the second time I've had to rewrite this chapter--my computer ate the last one. TT I've been really busy with school, too, but I only have eight days left, so no worries! ;D**

**Disclaimer-I do not own Legend of Zelda--just the plot.  
**

The streets hissed with the sound of hushed voices and rushed whispers. Oh, how the Hylians love their gossip--especially those in Castle Town. Some announced the news with glee, others with anguish. Yes, as far as they were all concerned, their poor Princess was sick. She was so sick, in fact, that she wouldn't allow any guards to see her. Naturally, they were worried, but they refused to go against their Princess' wishes.

The doctor had tried to see her; It was a shame for him that absolutely no one believed in him. In fact, everyone believed he was a quack. So, the guards had been absolutely ecstatic when Zelda handed one of them a letter addressed to Link.

Now, a few days later, the hero himself came riding in through the town on his loyal mare. 'Link, come as soon as you can,' Zelda had written to him, 'It is urgent.' His heart was pounding in his chest as he made his way to the Castle.

"Have you heard about what has happened to Princess Zelda?" One woman whispered to another on the street. Link slowed Epona to a trot. The other woman shook her head.

"Not exactly… I mean, all I've heard is that she got very sick from being held captive for so long. Well, I've also heard that Ganondorf, that wicked man, is holding her prisoner in that room which is why she won't let anyone in." She replied.

The first woman cackled. "Oh, no. Well, it's possible, I suppose. No, I strongly believe that the Twili that supposedly helped the hero and our Princess cursed poor Zelda. Twili are wicked creatures, after all." At that moment, Link sped Epona up again, which caused her to neigh in protest as she began to run.

It was no wonder Midna broke the mirror. The way that these people talked about Twili… He heard himself growl out of frustration. By the time he reached the Castle, he had heard even worse things; Some people seemed pleased that their princess was supposedly fatally sick. "Maybe we can have a republic now!" One had said.

Once he got inside the Castle, Link was directed into the basement where the Princess seemed to have claimed as her wing for the time being. Link knocked on the door he was directed to and waited. "Yes?" A deep voice called from within. His brow furrowed.

"Uh, Zelda? It's Link…" He muttered, unsure if he had chosen the wrong room.

"Link?" The voice cheered up dramatically. "Come in!" He blinked, but came in anyway.

"Zelda? Are you si-- Whoa!" He cried upon noticing who he was talking to. This person had short, blond hair, and a slick blue outfit that stuck to their skin. The hate upon their head, along with numerous parts of the outfit, looked as if they were made out of bandages. On their chest was an eye with three triangles above it, like teardrops. The person turned slightly, and had it not been for that sign, he may have not believed it to be her. Hanging far down the back was an extremely long braid. "What happened to you?" Link demanded, his thoughts drifting back to what they had said about Midna…

"Link…" It was definitely Zelda. Despite the different colored eyes, the male face shape, and the deep voice, he could hear her own somewhere down there. "Have you heard of the Sheikah?" He nodded. Of course, he had met the woman, Impaz, who was thought to be the last surviving Sheikah. "And I'm sure you know about the Imprisoning War." Another nod. "During the time the Hero of Time was sealed away, my ancestor, the Princess Zelda of that time, had taken the form of a Sheikah named Sheik. She totally changed her physical characteristics to appear male so that she could await for the Hero to wake up.

"Well, I found this book on the Sheikah in the old library down here, and a sheet of old paper came out. It was my ancestor's handwriting, Link! It was her spell!" He stared at her, not liking where this was going although he said nothing. "Well, I tried the spell, and… I figured out how to transform into Sheik." She was grinning, but he knew it was out of despair.

"That would be great, Zel. Only one problem: You're not trying to run away from a dead man!" He finally said to her. Link could see her frown, even underneath the top of the shirt that was turtleneck-like and hid her face up to her nose.

"I don't know what to do!" She cried, and turned away from him. Now he felt bad.

"Did you try to repeat the spell?" She turned around and rolled her eyes at him. That was a yes. "Well," He said after thinking for a minute. "There's one more Sheikah left… Maybe she can help us."

Zelda quirked an eyebrow. "And how are we going to get out of here with me looking like this?"

He grinned at last. "You still have that old cloak you wore when Zant took over?"

--

"Are you sure the Princess is alright?" An anxious guard asked Link. He was sitting on the back of Epona with Zelda behind him wearing the cloak. The hood was up and her face wasn't even visible.

"She is very sick," Link replied, playing the part he had been planning. "I happen to know a healer in Kakariko village, though. So, I'll return your Princess in no time, I promise." He was a good actor, he had learned.

"Take care, Your Highness!" The guards called after them as he pulled on Epona's reigns and urged her forward. The townspeople watched as he took off and the amount of whispers increased.

"You know, I meant to tell you," Link said casually as he allowed Epona to mostly steer herself to the Bridge of Eldin. "Some of your subjects believe Midna cursed you. Others think Ganondorf was in the room with you doing Goddesses only know what. Others were actually ecstatic that you were supposedly fatally ill. Just thought I ought to warn you."

Zelda laughed softly. "They have some imagination. I guess I can see why Midna didn't want to stay." She frowned all of a sudden and hit his arm. "You lied to my guards, by the way."

He looked back at her and grinned with all of his white teeth showing. "So did you." He teased. "Besides, we are going to Kakariko village -- the Old Kakariko Village. Impa's Village. Whatever you want to call it. I thought you were educated in Hyrule's past, Princess."

He was teasing her again. Zelda frowned. "I forgot about it, I guess. They said that a boulder had blocked entrance to the village." Link nodded.

"Yeah. When Ilia was kidnapped, she wound up there. I had to go there via the help of the Patriarch of the Gorons to find something that retrieved her memory. And I needed the book to get to the cannon that took me to the City in the Sky." She nodded.

Why did she become jealous when he spoke of Ilia? Best keep those thoughts out of her head although her subjects would surely praise her for… Never mind. Link's adventure must have been amazing; She had to remember to ask him about it sometime. "Nearly there." His voice dragged her out of her thoughts. They were crossing the newly restored bridge of Eldin and twilight was falling fast. It was a time of day, now, that both Zelda and Link noticed their hearts felt particularly heavy. Something that hadn't happened in a while chose to occur at that moment.

Zelda felt more than heard an arrow whiz just past her ear and stabbed into the cliff wall past them. Epona neighed in protest, flailed her feet in the air, and stopped moving. "Damn!" She heard Link cry as he stared at the creature responsible. Sure enough, an archer Bulbin was standing on the other side of the bridge. "You know," Link said as he jumped off Epona, "I knew you all wouldn't die out. I figured you'd at least stay in the desert if not follow your leader who said he 'followed the strongest side'."

The Bulbin cackled. "Perhaps you are no longer the 'stronger side'." Link's eyes narrowed. He heard Zelda draw her bowstring taut before she released a light arrow which instantly destroyed the creature.

"He's a low class beast," she told him reassuringly when Link climbed back on Epona. "He was just trying to make you sweat." Link nodded and tried to push the thought from his head. Then, they were off again. Before he knew it, they were inside the empty old village.

Link leapt off Epona and helped Zelda down. Within just a few seconds of arrival, the cats and kittens had flocked around them. He smiled at the familiar gesture and bent down to pet one of them. "I hope it's not too late for her…" Zelda murmured, shivering a little bit in the wind. Link waved a hand.

"Doubt it. Come on." He lead her through the village. It was nothing like in the books; It was much smaller and reminded him of an old western town. They entered the house at the end of the village. Impaz got up from her chair and beamed.

"Ah, Mr. Hero, so you have returned." She said. "What a nice surprise." Then, she eyed Zelda. "Who's your partner?" Link signaled for Zelda to take off her hood. She shook it off, and Impaz gasped. "S-sit down. Explain how you are… Sheik."

Zelda explained about her ancestor's spell. "Princess…" Impaz said with a faint smile. "Oh, I suppose you have learned your lesson about messing with spells that aren't in books, eh?" The old lady gave a wheezy laugh. "I'd be glad to teach you how to transform back; That way you can use this spell at any time." Impaz got out of her chair and led them out. She gently grabbed Zelda's wrist and led her into the barn-like area. Link decided to look around. At what? He wasn't sure.

He climbed to the top of one of the opposite rooftops and watched as the sky became darker. Zelda and Impaz's chanting were clear from where he was. Occasionally, he heard Zelda accidentally fire off a wrong spell, but, for the most part, she seemed to be doing well. Behind him, he could hear the howling of the wind in a familiar tune; The stone was still there.

About an hour or so later, Zelda's boots crunched out of the barn. "Link!" She beamed up at him, waving. It was good to see her how he remembered. She actually looked a lot better than she had before. She seemed to have some weight on her and she appeared to be happy. Her face was red and covered with a sheen of sweat from the effort it had taken her to learn the rest of the transformation spell.

--

**In the Twilight Realm…**

Impatiently, she drummed her fingers against the arms of the throne chair. The Twilight Realm, thanks in much part to Link, was no longer in too much disrepair. However, it was now her job to reconnect old trade routes and do much for the economy and her people. It was now that Midna realized that she much preferred being on adventure where she could fight for her life and feel a rush. Nowadays all she felt was… nothing at all. Well, except for guilt.

Guilt had been eating at Midna's heart since she had broken the mirror, since she had seen the looks of shock and betrayal on Zelda and Link's faces. Her stomach churned painfully at the thought. 'Ugh, this guilt thing… doesn't suit me well.' Even one of her attendants had told her so.

"Your majesty, you have been acting… odd… since you have returned to your rightful place at the throne." Ira had remarked to her one day when he spotted her sulking and sinking in the throne seat. "It seems to me that you no longer think or act for yourself or for your benefits… Are you sure that you can successfully rule these people?"

Oh, yes. She had heard this line straight from the mouths of many others at meetings with acquaintances or Parliament. They were all ridiculing her behind her back; Hell, some didn't even bother to wait until she left the room. What had she done since she had returned? …Not much.

Aside from assuring her people that they were in capable hands now, she had not done a darn thing. That would have to change, she thought as she drummed her fingers against the arm once more. She was sure of one other thing, though. There was another feeling within her, past the guilt… It was almost like a foreboding feeling of what was to come.

--

**Back in the Light World…**

Epona slowly trotted back toward Castle Town. There wasn't a sound in the night air aside from the soft, even sounds of her hooves hitting the ground. Hyrule Field seemed much less dangerous at night. Of course, there was the occasional Bokoblin, Bulbin, Guay, and skeleton dogs, but it was peaceful for the most part. Aside from the wind blowing softly and Epona's footsteps, there wasn't a sound in the night air… until they were closing in on Castle Town.

The sharp, crackling of fire and screams echoed throughout the night air around the town. "Yah!" Link urged his horse to move faster, but she wouldn't go near the bridge, as usual. His mind was hazy as he hopped off of his mare and barely heard Zelda land behind him. "We must hurry." She said in a soft but firm voice to knock him out of his reverie. He hardly nodded as he followed her into town. There were so many fires that they didn't even know where to start. Zelda turned away from him and concentrated on the moisture away from the fire. She concentrated more until the small water ball turned huge, and she sent it into the nearby burning Goron shop.

Down on South Road, the Goron and his son who owned the hot spring water shop were using said water in order to put out the fires as well. Zelda wasn't sure exactly when she lost Link but between the screaming crowds, and his desire to help his friends, she knew it would be hard to find him. What she really had to find was what started this all. Zelda entered the Goron shop and found the owners still inside. "Ah, Princess, thank you so much!" The adult Goron wheezed. "The shop would have burned down without you." She kindly smiled at him.

"Do you know who or what started this?" He shook his head.

"I do not, I am sorry. Feel free to look out on the balcony, though!" He added. She set up the stairs and burst the door to the balcony open. She searched far and wide, but she couldn't see a thing in sight. Zelda turned around and climbed up the roof of the shop. That was when she spotted them. How could anyone have missed them? A group of Bulbin archers, armed with fire arrows, continued to fire arrows to reset the fires around the town.

"Knock it off!" Zelda screamed at them as she fired off a spell. She knocked one off the roof, but the others pulled back their bowstrings. The princess bit her tongue and looked around for a good ducking place. One of them released an arrow that would've hit her had she not dodged. In the process, her heel got caught in the gutter of the building and the world spun as she headed for the ground.

As she whirled to the ground, she felt someone grab her out of nowhere. Her vision was swimming, but she could clearly make out Link's figure.

Well, it might've been Link had he not been dressed in completely black with the only colored thing being his red eyes. She made to scream, but he disappeared with her into the shadows.

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**A/N: Sorry it took so long to get this chapter up. I think it's alright action wise, but you know that next chapter's going to get better. :3 Keep reading and reviewing, guys, it keeps me writing!**

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	5. Sewer Hide and Sheik

**A/N: You guys, your reviews make me giggle. The ones begging me to have LxZ as a pairing really make me laugh. :3 I really like a lot of your alternatives, though, guys, and if I use any of them, I'll be sure to give a head's up. XD Seriously, though, your reviews make me laugh and giggle, so keep them coming! By the way, Dark Link is probably going to remain evil, but… there's a reason why. ;D  


* * *

_'For what you did to me, and for what I'll do to you, you get what everyone else gets;_**

_You get a lifetime.'_

**My Chemical Romance: It's Not A Fashion Statement, it's an F'ing Death Wish**

The chaos finally halted once Link picked out the archer Bulbins on the rooftop. He made short work of them with just a few arrows. Finally, the goddesses seemed to spare him by having a heavy rain (without wind) fall from the heavens. It seemed that right after the crowd had become relieved that the fires were extinguished, they got riled up about something else. "I _saw_ it! It took her! It must have been a twili!" Someone shouted.

"Yes, yes! Who else could have come out of the shadows and re-disappeared like that?" Another voice replied. "Oh, no… Oh, no…! It's the end of Hyrule as we know it!" Link looked on with an irked expression.

"Excuse me. Excuse me! **Move!**" A female's voice shouted at a group of women in her way. She pushed through them to reveal herself to Link. It was Telma!

"Telma…?" Link was dazed enough. All of the smoke he had taken in had made him a bit dizzy.

"Are you feeling alright, honey?" She asked in a worried but urgent tone; There was obviously something of great important that she wanted to discuss. Her red eyebrows were knitted together. He nodded, slowly.

"What's wrong? What's happened?"

"I thought that I saw you save the Princess as she fell from that building," Telma indicated said building with her finger, "it looked just like you! But, it wasn't. He was all black, and I could make out the glint of his red eyes from the other side of town."

"Brother!" A small Goron pulled on the bottom of Link's tunic. "I think he headed downwards! Maybe for the sewers?" Link nodded, slowly understanding. Dark Link. The sewers. Of course! Link burst from the scene without another word and ran straight for Jovani's house. The door that had once been locked and sealed tight from time opened easily.

 He glanced around and looked for his one key way into the sewers. He recalled from when he had last been through there as a wolf that the sewers were easy to get to during rain. Link hopped into what looked like a treasure chest and fell right through, surprisingly enough.

Link tried to regain his balance and control where he was going, but the ample amount of rain was rushing him straight down in the direction it wanted.

**--**

Her vision was swimming once again as her eyes fluttered open. She felt cold and wet and could feel that almost all of her dress was soaked in water. There was a nearby presence: A very dark one… The figure chuckled coldly, causing the hairs on the back of her neck to stand on end.

"Your 'hero' is a zero." The figure simply remarked to her. "All of this time, and he hasn't noticed that his shadow has been moving on its own." He chuckled again, this time with humor. "Poor sap, he probably would have never guessed. So much for you being Princess and him being the hero; If you both haven't taken a good look at your history books, then what good are you?" He bent down now and roughly grabbed her chin and made her look at him. His eyes burned her own , and she squirmed under his gaze. "Don't be afraid, Princess…" He purred; She shuddered.

She looked him up and down. He really was the spitting image of Link aside from the dark skin, dark tunic, and red eyes, of course. Even his moves were probably the same, but it was worth a shot. Before he could comprehend what she was doing, she moved her hands in various motions while murmuring a spell in Old Hylian under her breath. She held out her hands and shot a fireball at Dark Link, knocking him into the deep water pool that was forming in the sewers.

Dark Link licked the blood that was slowly trickling down his lips. "Lucky shot, Princess. What a shame for you." The metal screeched in protest as he pulled out the black copy of the Master Sword. Zelda thought she was fast, but he was _so_ much faster. As soon as she blinked, he disappeared and reappeared behind her with his sword tip to her neck. Her heart stopped beating for a minute.

"Now, then," he whispered dangerously in her ear. "You'd best do as I say; I would hate to cut off this pretty neck of yours." Panic swept through the princess for the first time. She wasn't very well-practiced with what she was about to manage, but she would have to try. This was a living or dying situation. In her mind, she went over the words she had, surprisingly enough, memorized already. Before Dark Link realized what had happened, Zelda was donned in a blue outfit and had a totally different appearance. The next thing he knew, she had disappeared in a puff of smoke.

"What kind of magic is this?!" He cried, glancing wildly around the sewer. "You can't run forever, Princess!"

Farther away, Sheik had climbed up a level or so to be in the dungeons. She panted as she leaned against one of the walls. Goddesses, it spelled terrible down there. She crinkled her nose in disgust and put her hand to the back of her stinging neck. When she pulled her hand in front of her eyes, she was unsurprised to see a little bit of blood on her fingers. _'He certainly wasn't planning on sparing me,'_ Sheik started to walk some more to see if she could get to the rooftops. _'This makes no sense. What could have brought the Dark Link back after all of this time? I swear, I __**swear**__ that the Link from the imprisoning war had easily dealt with him...'_

There was a darker force at work already. Why couldn't they live out their peace for a whole era? She heard herself sigh deeply as she finally found the broken staircase leading up to the rooftops. This was good enough practice, at least, for the precision of her teleportation mechanisms. Sheik disappeared across each gap and finally disappeared up to the very top of the area. Then, she climbed the side of the wall and exited through the window.

She looked down at the town in the distance and was relieved to find no signs of fires. At least Link had been able to manage that much, unlike her...

**--**

"This is terrible! We must send for help! We need someone to go see the spirit or get help or both!" Telma was frantic in her orders, and it was hard for almost anyone to understand her words.

"What do you want us to do? Should we go get Rusl? I'm not sure if any of us are able to see the spirit..." Asked one of Telma's good friends and usual costumer.

"I don't know, I don't know!" Her brow furrowed. "If only Link had not gone into the sewers... We must think of something! Ashei!" She suddenly turned toward a dark-haired young woman with her hair in two braids.

"Ya?" The addressed woman replied. "I'll try to ward them off." Without another word, Ashei ran out of the tavern with sword in hand.

"Go! Get Rusl. Take the south road; It is longer, but you'll have a better chance of getting past that Bulbin..." Telma muttered. "I must try to get others out... You...!" She suddenly shouted at someone else who was sitting in the corner of the bar. The man looked up and pointed at himself. "Yes, you. I need you to start herding first the women and children out of here via the south road. Hurry before that great big Bulbin gets back here!" With that, the man, who swayed slightly from his drinks, also ran out of the bar as did the first man.

How had it happened so fast? First, the Link impostor. Now, this Bulbin and his lackeys. It didn't add up... "O, Goddesses, have we upset you somehow...?" Telma cried to the sky.

**--**

Link slashed aside rats and keese in the sewer; They were proving to be pretty annoying. The sewers, the Goron child had said... He didn't see any sign of Zelda or his impostor. He climbed up a few stairs, entered dark rooms, and found himself in the dungeons. How humorous that he came here every time something urgent happened. It was so much easier to get up to the rooftops when he was a human, Link realized. All he had to do was clawshot his way up. Eventually, he reached the rooftops, but he had this terrible gut feeling that he had taken too long... The rooftops were also empty. Maybe Zelda was inside of the Castle...? Wait a second.

The clothing on the both of them were so dark that he barely noticed them in the darkness on the roof leading to the tower Zelda had previously been imprisoned in. Only, she wasn't Zelda: She was Sheik. "Zelda!" He ran as fast as he could and used the clawshot to get down to the roof. Sheik was on her knees with one hand supporting her; The other was limp on the ground. His impostor looked just like him aside from the colors.

"L-Link..." She managed a tiny smile when she saw him. Dark Link yanked the Master Sword out of the foundation of the roof and pointed it at Link.

"It's about time we've met, brother." He said with an impish grin. Link slid the Ordon sword out of its scabbard and scowled.

"We're hardly brothers; I would never lay a finger on Zelda." Dark Link simply smiled in an amused way before eyeing the sword.

"An _Ordon_ sword? You expect to beat me with that rusty old thing?" Dark Link scoffed.

"It will meet its purpose." Link snarled as he charged and used a vertical slash. Almost as if he was a step ahead, Dark Link dodged before the sword had a chance of touching him.

"Too slow." The dark one remarked. Link growled.

"Shut up and stand still so I can kill you!" He charged again and tried to do a back slick; Big mistake. Link went to roll, but he was so close to the side of the roof that he rolled right off. Thanks to his quick reaction time, he was able to grab the edge.

"What a shame, we just started, and I already have to kill you. I am your opposite, which means I _get_ what I want." His eyes flickered over to Sheik and then back. Link growled again.

"You bastard--!"

"Goodbye, Link." Dark Link stabbed down the Master Sword, but there was a sudden explosion noise that made him stop right before to blade stabbed Link's hat. "What the hell was that?" The sound sounded again and became louder and louder until the building began to shake. Dark Link pulled himself away from his other side to see what was going on below. King Bulbo and a whole army of Bulbins were on either side of the Castle. "What the hell do you morons think you're doing?!"

"I don't take orders from you." King Bulbo spit before he pulled out his horn and blew. As it sounded, all of the Bulbins hurled all of the bombs they could hold at the Castle's walls.

"What the fu--?!" Link shouted as the walls shook unsteadily. Sheik's hand reached out for him and pulled him up without too much difficulty.

"We have to get out of here right now." He said with an urgent tone. Link nodded his agreement.

"Yeah, but... how? We're surrounded!" The walls were flimsy with that many bombs being hurled at once. You would think that Zelda would have chosen a better material for the walls this time around. They were slowly sinking level by level.

"Oh, God," Sheik said, suddenly sick to his stomach, "I hope the guards got out..." The Bulbins were relentless in their attack despite the fact that Dark Link was screaming at him. Once they were about three levels above King Bulbin, he smiled evily and threw a huge bomb up at them.

"Watch out!" Link shouted. He pushed Sheik down and covered him with his own body as the blast exploded almost immediately on contact. The world was becoming hazy at first but then dark... It progressively got darker despite the fact that Sheik was screaming in his ears.  


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**A/N: Short, sweet, and to the point. I can't write anymore because 1) It's way too hot in this house and I'm being driven insane by it, 2) the heat is making me tired, 3) That's a very good chapter break. :D See you guys next chapter! Please read and review!!**


	6. Untimely Death

**A/N: 'Kay, so I decided to update early. There won't be another update until probably Wednesday or Thursday, so be patient, okay? Also, this chapter contains a bit of fluff. Link and Zelda fluff. ;D Yes, I know you all love it. Read and review, please! 3**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Legend of Zelda. If I did, I would be the happiest girl on Earth pretty much. :D  


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It was so dark that he couldn't make out anything at first. He was so numb that it took him a few minutes to realize that he was soaking wet. Eventually, his eyes adjusted, and he realized that he was in some new part of the sewers. His body ached, but he found the strength to sit up. What happened to him? The last thing he remembered was covering Sheik from that huge bomb... how did he get down here? "You're awake." Sheik's deep voice stated from where he stood by a statue of the hero of time on a platform. The statue appeared to be in perfect condition although it was discolored; It must have been very old. With a flash of light, Zelda was running towards him and bent down beside him. "Are you alright?" She asked in the soft voice that he had grown to love. He nodded and winced from the action.**

His arm was wrapped with a pink cloth as was one of hers. He noticed that there was a section of cloth missing from the bottom of her dress. "Did you get us down here?" He asked, surprised. She nodded.

"Yeah. I think I've gotten a handle on how to transport myself and one other person." Zelda replied. Link noticed that Zelda had the arm not wrapped, her right arm, clutched to her chest; That must have been the one that Dark Link had injured. She then turned away from him and said, "I left you once, Link, and hid in the shadows to get a look at the town; It's destroyed. The buildings are in ruin... It's empty of everyone. There are some bodies scattered but not many; Hopefully that means that the majority got out of here." Her lips were set, as were her eyes, in a determined fashion. She was covered in dirt and grime and looked like hell.

"What about the castle?" He asked slowly. She was still not looking at him.

"There no longer is one. Many soldiers did not get out in time; Their bodies are strewn throughout the ruins." Her voice shook a little at the last statement.

"Zel..." He muttered soothingly, only seeking to comfort her...

"I should be overthrown." Her voice broke as she said this, her will broken. "I am a terrible leader. First, my kingdom is covered in a deadly twilight. And now I have single-handedly allowed evil to conquer my people and I once more." Zelda's gloved hands were in fists. Link crawled beside her and pulled her into an embrace.

"It's not your fault, Zelda. We'll figure out what's going on and overcome evil, just like before." She slumped against him and broke down with heavy sobs that echoed in the deserted sewers.

**--**

**In the Twilight Realm...**

_'I have... a terrible feeling about what's going on in Hyrule.'_ Midna thought for about the tenth time that day. She drummed her fingers against the arm of the throne chair once again. She felt so damned fidgety. "'Your chances of returning to the light world are slim, Your Highness'," Midna repeated in an irked, squeaky tone. "'After you so cleverly broke the mirror, you basically destroyed the only chance of getting back. Only someone with a lot of power and concentration could get back to the light world.' Blah. Blah. _Blah_."

At that moment, the one who had spoken those words to her, Ira, made his presence known by clearing his throat. Midna jumped up in the throne. "Yes? Can I help you?" She venomously spat at him, no doubt from the previous conversation she had held with him.

"If you're really planning on grumbling and worrying about those in the light world, then why don't you take my advice and teleport there? I am sure that if you focus, you can get there..." He suggested causing Midna to raise an eyebrow. How delightfully suspicious...

"And whom, Ira, do you suggest taking over in my absence?" She asked although she guessed the response.

"Why me, of course. After all, I am your attendant; Your 'right-hand man', if you will." Midna smiled widely and cruelly.

"I think not," she responded coldly. "Being a female ruler, I cannot allow a male to take my place..." Midna paused to take in Ira's pained expression. "Yes, perhaps Adel would be more fit for the job... I shall go talk to her." With that, she leapt out of her seat and sauntered out of the room. At the door, she turned her head slightly toward him. "What? Are you still here? You are dismissed. Shoo, shoo."

With his fists clenched, and his blood boiling, Ira slunk out of the room.

**--**

Link and Sheik were standing in the castle's ruins. Sheik had discovered that it was much harder to transport up than it was down. Then again, he had mostly grabbed Link and fell down several stories. No big. Link noticed the dead bodies of the soldiers and heaved a deep sigh. They had no clue what they were up against... what could they do? He glanced at Sheik who still seemed to be struggling with his emotions. It was obvious that Sheik now regretted leaving the castle just because of how he looked; It seemed so pointless now. Sheik looked over at Link. "What do we do now?" He asked the green-clad swordsman.

Link turned his attention to the full moon hanging in the sky. "We've wasted a lot of precious time. Since you've already checked out the town, we should head back to Ordon. Rusl can definitely help us, and I'd feel better if I could see that everyone was alright." He heard nothing behind him, so he turned around to see what was going on. Zelda was once again standing before him.

"We'll do that in just a minute; There's one very important thing I want to check out first..." She muttered as she gently grabbed Link's arm and moved her arms in a whirling fashion. Green and yellow tendrils engulfed her body and before Link knew what was going on, he found himself back on familiar ground way behind the castle; They were standing on the ground where Link had killed Ganondorf for the final time.

"What are we doing here? And how did you do that?" Link added as he gazed at Zelda.

She hesitated. "I want to make sure that Ganondorf's body is still decomposing out here. And, that was Farore's wind; A gift passed down by the goddesses." Zelda added with a small smile, which he had to return.

About ten minutes passed and Zelda and Link had found nothing. "Do you remember where it had happened? I remember it being near a bridge, which we passed, and I still haven't seen anything..."

Link knew what she was thinking because he was thinking the same thing, but he couldn't bare to say it out loud. "He's here somewhere." At that moment, chills ran down his spine.

_'You don't know how right you are.'_ A voice spoke within the confines of his head. Link looked up and frantically searched from right to left for a source of the voice; Zelda was doing the same. Those who bore the symbols of the triforce could communicate telepathically with the other two... That could only mean... "Show yourself!" Link shouted as he drew the Ordon sword from its sheath.

Zelda's hand twitched toward a rapier sword in its sheath, but she could not afford to draw it. With a sudden gust of wind, her hair blew to the right and the Princess looked about. There was a loud, sinister grunting coming from behind them on a higher hill. Both of the triforce bearers turned to find themselves faced with King Bulbin aboard Lord Bulbo.

Link snarled and ran in front of Zelda, who plucked a bit of grass from the ground and blew into it the tune of Epona's song. Upon hearing this, Link smiled and tightened his grip on the sword. Within minutes, a neighing Epona burst into the area although she did not look pleased when she noticed King Bulbin. Ah, how many times that poor mare had to face against him and his damned boar. Epona snorted at Link when she came up beside him to show her disappreciation. "Sorry, girl," He muttered softly as he climbed upon her back.

"Be careful, Link." Zelda said to him as King Bulbin charged Lord Bulbo forward. He nodded.

"You know I will." With that, he snapped Epona's reigns and urged her forward. Epona set forward at a surprising speed as if nothing would have made her happier than to take out the bulbin once and for all. "I thought you told me that you followed the strongest side!" Link shouted at the oversized bulbin as he closed in on him. The bulbin shook with laughter.

"I do!" Was all the bulbin said in reply as he charged his boar at Link. Link, who was a little out of practice, tried to move to the side, but he did it to early and was flung off of Epona and fell several feet away. The ground shook a little as King Bulbin jumped off of Lord Bulbo and took out an oversized axe. Menacingly, he walked after Link, who was still weak and had trouble getting up. Zelda ran after Link, clutching her injured arm to her body as she did so.

When she reached Link, she flung out her arms before him and winced from the action. King Bulbin frowned as he shouldered the axe.

"'Ey, little girl, why don't you back off and let me slay your boyfriend?" Zelda's heart was pounding in her chest, but she did not move an inch.

"Zel, don't worry about me..." Link muttered weakly as he tried to sit up.

"Get back." Zelda ordered in a venomous tone as she pulled out her rapier sword and ignored the pain it set off in her arm. The bulbin cackled.

"You're going to defeat me with such a pathetic weapon? Do you even know how to handle a sword, girlie?" Of course she knew how to handle the rapier, otherwise she wouldn't bother to carry it around with her. However, she had never really used it against an enemy; She'd only used it for sparring purposes. Sparring against her fellow knights who went easy on her anyway... King Bulbin, finally getting fed up with the princess, stuck his axe inches from her face. "If you want a fight, you got one!" He grabbed her at a surprisingly fast speed and threw her behind him.

"Zelda!" Link winced as he tried to get up. King Bulbin glanced back at him.

"Don't worry; You're next." He promised before he whistled. The boar began to run toward Zelda at a fast pace. Zelda rubbed the back of her neck as she slowly rose to her feet. She saw the boar coming at her but what could she do? Neighing erupted behind her and before Zelda knew it, she was on Epona's back.

"Thanks, Epona." The princess said, patting the mare's neck. She sheathed the rapier; There was no way it could stand against that axe. Instead, Zelda closed her eyes for a minute. There was a bright flash of light and when her eyes had opened, there was a quiver of light arrows and bow sitting in her lap. "Perfect." Zelda notched an arrow in the bow and drew the string taught.

King Bulbin had remounted Lord Bulbo and was now running toward them at a crazy speed. She pointed the arrowhead at the bulbin and released it when she was close enough. Almost immediately, King Bulbin flew off of Lord Bulbo and hit the ground, his axe falling inches out of his reach. He slowly put out a hand for it but instead met a crushing pain. The king of bulbins looked up to see Link standing on his hand with his iron boots. Link put the tip of his Ordon Sword to King Bulbin's face.

"You don't screw around with those that I care about and I without getting something in return." Link growled at him as he stepped harder on the bulbin's hand, causing the bulbin to scream in pain. "Now, just answer me one thing before I finally kill you: Who put you up to destroying the Castle and Castle Town?"

All of a sudden, King Bulbin burst into a wild fit of laughter. "Just Castle Town? Is that what you think? Do not full yourself, foolish hero! We have struck many other provinces besides this one!" His beady eyes gleamed evilly. "I have already been to your village, and it was quite delightful to have everyone scream and run like that. What a shame that pretty girl I captured last time didn't run fast enough..." He smiled maliciously and Link snapped. In an instant, he stabbed his sword through King Bulbin's throat. "Too bad... you are no longer... the stronger side..." King Bulbin said with blood bubbling out of his mouth and throat. Zelda practically gagged when she saw King Bulbin's dying form, but she held it back. "Princess, I'd be careful if I were you... there's nothing he wants more than... you..." And with that, the lights left the bulbin's eyes.

Link looked over at Zelda. "Do you think he was talking about...?" Zelda trailed off. The swordsman merely shook his head.

"It doesn't matter because I'm going to protect you no matter what." He replied to her. She smiled at Link who returned the smile. Link's balance began to falter a little and he fell forward, only to be caught by Zelda.

"Easy there." She softly whispered in his ear. "You realize that we just killed the leader of all bulbins, right? You realize that it's going to be an all out war with them, right?"

Link managed to reclaim most of his balance and looked at her seriously in the eyes. "Like I said: 'It doesn't matter because I'm going to protect you no matter what.' And that's a promise, Zel."  


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	7. The Twili that Could

**A/N: I am such a liar. I started this chapter Monday night. xD  


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_'Kimi no chikara ni naritainda_**

_**Tatoe kimi igai no subete no hito wo**_

_**Teki ni mawasu toki ga kite mo**_

_**Kimi no koto mamori nuku kara.'**_

-High and Mighty Color "Ichirin no Hana"

Much to Epona's dismay, Link urged her through the vast area of Hyrule field as the full moon hung over them in the sky. Nighttime meant dangerous enemies; Of course the field had stronger monsters that came out once the moon floated into its spot. Zelda spent most of the ride sniping out distance enemies with her light arrows while Link slashed at enemies that would suddenly pop out of nowhere. All three were exhausted when they finally made it into Faron Woods.

"We're not out of the woods yet," Link murmured as he rushed Epona past Coro's quiet shack. "I'm guessing that if King Bulbin was telling the truth, then we should expect some company."

"Not a problem." Zelda replied softly as she notched another arrow. She detected a bit of movement over Faron's spring as they began to exit the tunnel and drew back her bowstring, wincing in the process; The action did not go unnoticed by Link, who had glanced back at her.

_'We really need to get healed before we go any further but not before we get to somewhere safe.'_ He thought to himself as the light arrow struck a Bublin standing atop the cliff wall beside the spring. "Nice eye." Link remarked to the princess as they passed the spring and continued down the bridge leading to Ordon.

They passed the Ordon spring and Link's house just fine, but when they reached the village, they were faced with the worst. What was left of the houses in the village was bits of charred wall and ashes in their centers where artifacts had no doubt once stood. All over the place, there was a Bulbin. "Damn it!" Link shouted as he pulled back on Epona's reigns and jumped off with sword in hand. He could not and would not hold back the anger bubbling just under the surface of his skin.

"Link!" Zelda tried to plead in an effort to keep them unnoticed although there had been guards watching anyway. Archers standing at the top branches of trees let loose fire arrows aimed at the princess, who was an easier target than the swordsman on the ground. Much to Link's relief and surprise, Zelda conjured up a temporary, blue barrier that caused the fire to flicker and die and the arrows to fall harmlessly to the ground.

"Great, the Princess can perform magic." One Bulbin grumbled, causing both Zelda and Link to stare. Sure, King Bulbin could speak, but he was their leader. They had both thought that Bulbins were lower beings, incapable of organized thought.

"That means she can get to the remaining villagers! We must quickly get to them!" Another Bulbin shouted as he ran toward the ranch, revealing how small their brains really were. Link and Zelda exchanged meaningful glances.

"Go. I can at least hold of this horde of underlings. Go!" She shouted at him when Link showed no signs of budging. Finally, he nodded, remounted Epona, and ran over a few Bulbins on his way to the ranch. Zelda smiled softly as she stood on her own. "This should be... fun." More arrows were shot at her, but she disappeared with a gust of wind.

**--**

Link patted Epona's neck as she hopped over the closed gate. There was a rather large group of Bulbins standing at the closed doors of the ranch, trying to wrap their small minds around how to get the door open. _'I seriously hope that there is something blocking the door that's making it hard to open the doors otherwise I have even less respect for those monsters.'_ He thought to himself as he urged Epona to move faster and trampled the Bulbins to death. "Huh. You'd think that they'd have more guards than this." He remarked to himself as he knocked loudly on the door. "It's Link! Please, open the door!"

He heard the buzzing of voices behind the door as it opened a little. "Link?" A raspy voice whispered. Link could not make out who it was. He gave a friendly nod as the person got a good look on him. The doors closed again and there was the buzzing of voices once more. Then, the doors swung open.

"Link! Oh, m'dear, we were so worried about you!" Sera, Beth's mother, cried in a dry voice. She embraced him tightly. "We knew that you would return to us!" Sera said with tears running down her dirty face. Slowly, more people came out. To Link's relief, many were inside of the barn. Instant guilt plunged Link. _'I shouldn't have left for so long. I shouldn't have left at all.'_ Talo and Malo were clinging to their parents although they both wore relieved smiles.

Link glanced at all of the dirty Ordonians to see who was missing. Colin, Uli, Rusl, Ilia, and Bo weren't there. He swallowed hard but managed to say: "I'm so relieved you all are okay, but... what happened to the others?" The relief on their faces washed away to reveal guilt.

"They came, and we were so unprepared, Link..." Pergie, Talo and Malo's mother, practically pleaded. "Oh, Goddess'... Rusl was so brave, he rushed right on ahead to fight, but they knocked him out and dragged him away. Well, Colin saw this, so he ran after them and managed to get captured; His mother was not far behind him. We only managed to save the baby from the arms of a monster about to kill her..." Pergie's voice broke and she could continue no more as tears fell from her eyes.

"Bo went after the monsters and started waving his hands around like a crazy man like he could defeat them with his own, bare hands." Jaggle continued as he stroked his wife's back. "Ilia ran after him and they were captured together. Then, a man claiming he had been sent by Telma said that he needed Rusl. When he noticed a gang of those monsters surrounding Beth, he swept in and saved her, but was struck by an archer monster in the heart..." Link's hands were clutched in his fists. Damn that Bulbin King...! Suddenly, a loud, piercing scream sounded in the night air and Link started.

"Zelda..." Link whispered, frightened. "Stay right here! I'll be back!" Talo made to go after him, but Link stopped as he threw back the gates. "I mean it! This time, the enemies are more dangerous than a bunch of demonic plants." With that, he ran back into the village. In the very center of the town lay a motionless Zelda with one arm across her stomach and the other over her head. "Zelda!" He shouted and unsheathed his sword as the Bulbins closed in on her. "Get the fuck away from her!" With an easy spin of his sword, he took out the lower-class monsters who disappeared in puffs of black smoke.

Link bent down over Zelda and cradled her in his arms. "Oh, Goddess', please... Please...!" As if he had spoken the magic words, Zelda's eyes fluttered open to reveal her cobalt orbs. He mentally thanked Farore, Nayru, and Din as he shifted her a little in his arms. "Goddess', Zel... You're alright."

She smiled weakly. "I'm sorry for worrying you. There were so many... I was so worn out... Then, in the middle of my Farore's Wind, they got me... I'm sorry..." Link promptly shushed her.

"Don't apologize; You didn't do anything." He said as he looked around. It looked like Zelda had actually managed to take care of all of the monsters aside from the ones he had killed. "Good goddesses, Zelda, you sure did do a job on those beasts." Zelda's smile became a little more pronounced.

"What can I say? It pays to practice." From the other side of town, the other villagers began to slowly make their way toward them. They whispering upon spotting Link and Zelda in such a compromising position.

"They're talking about us, Link." Zelda said with a blush. He waved her off with his hand.

"Let them talk."

**--**

"So... you're going after them, Link?" Jaggle nervously asked the swordsman about two hours later. Link nodded slowly.

"Yes. I have to find out what's happened to the others, and I need to find out what's going on." He replied as he glanced around at the village. "I'm sorry, I feel so bad for leaving you..."

"It's okay, Link!" Talo called from the tree above Beth's house. "I'm going to be lookout again!" Link smiled a little in memory of the time Talo had appointed himself the lookout of Kakariko village during the war with Zant and Ganondorf. Come to think of it, that wasn't _too_ long ago. Link still hadn't found it in his heart to tell the villagers, his friends, that he could not find Ganondorf's remains where they should have been; He kept convincing himself that some vulture had picked away at the remains.

"I'm trusting you, Talo!" Link called up to the young boy sitting in the tree who grinned and gave him two thumbs-up. He shifted his attention back to Jaggle. "Are you sure that you are well-armed?" Jaggle waved him off.

"Good enough, my boy. Don't worry about us! If you can put an end to this madness, then you won't need to save us, so don't place your thoughts near us! Just concentrate on whatever started this up and find the others." A small, knowing smile crept onto Jaggle's face. "And be sure to take care of your girlfriend." Link's face turned magenta.

"She's not...!" Link tried to argue but was cut off short as Zelda called to him.

"Link, are you ready?" She called from upon Epona. Both of them had soaked in the spring for a little while and now they felt like one million rupees. He nodded and climbed onto Epona. "Take care!" The Princess called over her shoulder, blushing as the villagers bowed.

**--**

**In the part of Hyrule field nearest the Faron Providence...**

She could not believe it had worked. What luck she had! Or, what strength. Already, she had shaken down a few monsters that she had found were in large amounts again. Her strange, uneasy feelings from before had not been wrong. The monsters had confirmed that a new evil had arisen and the "foolish princess and insulant hero" were already working hard to take down this evil. Of course, after the brief chats, she had rid the light world of the beasts with the snap of her fingers. Well, pretty much.

Now was a matter of waiting. She had no clue where in the world Link and Zelda could be. "Wait no more, Princess." Midna whirled around, fully expecting to see Link, and she did: The Dark Link. She scowled and her hands balled into fists. His voice was so similar, only raspier.

"Hah. I see a Link but certainly not the one I wanted." She mused as a dark ball began to glow between her two hands.

"My, my. You certainly are beautiful in your true form. What a shame that your remarks don't hit home as hard as they did when you were a lowly imp." Dark Link shot back with a sneer. With no warning at all, he was blasted backward by the ball of dark energy.

Midna put a finger to her lips. "Oops. Was it uncalled for that I attacked you whilst you went about your meaningless rant? How clumsy of me." Dark Link glared his shining, crimson eyes at her.

"If that's how you want to play, fine. Playing dark has always been easier." Without a warning, he disappeared and Midna was left in the field by herself. Or so she thought. Dark Link resurfaced behind her and slashed his black Master Sword at her back, but she quickly turned about and caught it, slashing a deep cut into her hand.

"I am ruler of the Twilight; Such pathetic attacks will not surprise me." Midna grinned as her hands became black with dark magic and pushed the sword and Dark Link away from her. "You have been locked away for too long; Your power is shoddy." The Princess remarked with a sneer. As she finished her sentence, the Dark Link before her fell into nothingness while she felt a sharp pain across her back; Midna yelped in pain and fell to her hands and knees.

"Yes," Dark Link hissed from behind her as he licked the blood off of his blade. "but replication spells are simple." He held up his sword above the point of where her heart would be. "Goodbye, Princess. I suppose that this proves, after all, how useless you are in the light world." There was a flash of light in the distance and the sound of an arrow whizzing through the air. It pierced Dark Link's shoulder causing him to scream in agony, pull it out, and throw it to the ground. "What _is_ this?" He demanded as he stared at the blood running freely from his shoulder.

"Hyah!" A male's voice grunted. Epona neighed in protest as she sped up toward Midna and Dark Link.

"I wouldn't believe it if I didn't see it," Zelda whispered so quietly that Link had barely heard her.

"Midna...?" Link called out to the woman kneeling on the ground. He pulled back on the reigns as soon as they were feet within Midna.

The Twilight Princess looked up at them with a look similar to the one Link had last seen from her. Her eyes were wide and her lips were twisted in a smile and both Link and Zelda felt a great increase in their spirits. "Oh, Midna!" Zelda cried as she jumped off of Epona and ran to her fellow Princess' side.

"I... can't believe it." Link murmured more to himself than anyone else as he stared at Midna as if she would disappear at any given moment. "You... split the mirror." He stated to her in a monotone voice. Midna nodded slowly and answered in the same monotone voice.

"Yes. Yes, I did." The two being so out of whack barely paid attention as Dark Link vengefully swung his sword at Midna. Zelda managed to conjure a flimsy Nayru's Love spell that blocked the attack, cut into Dark Link, and knocked him back.

"Can we focus on the task at hand and worry about the details later?" Zelda asked as she blew a piece of golden hair out of her eyes. The other two nodded and rose to their feet.

"Shit, this doesn't look good." Dark Link remarked to himself as he clutched his bloody arm. He stuck two fingers from his left hand into his mouth and blew twice. The ground shook a little as bulbins and their bulbos rode in from the distance. "They killed your leader! Get them!" Dark Link commanded, pointing at Link and Zelda.

"Definitely not good!" Midna cried as she stared in horror at the many angry bulbins charging at them. "There are too many!" She glanced around to find Link looking just as worried as she was but Zelda with her eyes closed. "Zelda...!" But in a flash of light, they were whisked away.

When Midna opened her eyes, she found herself sitting in water that seemed to stretch forever. Link was beside her and Zelda was panting and bent double. "Where are we?" Midna murmured as she glanced around. It was so bright with light that she was surprised that she wasn't being destroyed. Of course, both she and Zelda knew that she was retaining a tad bit of light that allowed Midna to exist in this world, and this new area, without pain.

"We've been here before..." Link mused as he climbed to his feet and steadied Zelda. "You transported us here during the fight with Ganondorf in a last ditch effort to save us and give us the tools we needed to defeat him." He said to the princess, who smiled in return.

"Yes. It is the light realm, a very pure place." Zelda stated as she stood up to her full height.

"You've got that right," Midna said as she stared at her once injured hand. The skin had resealed over the cut as if she had never been hurt in the first place.

"I can take us back; We only needed a few minutes, but I'm not sure if I will be in a remotely good condition when we return." She murmured more to herself than anyone else. It was true, too. The Princess looked terrible; It must have taken a lot of energy to get to the light realm. Link placed Zelda's arm over his shoulder.

Midna sighed at them and rolled her eyes. "Ah, humans, so weak." She joked with an impish grin that no longer fit her. When neither of them said anything, she spoke again. "Explain to me, please, what exactly has happened here." Zelda and Link exchanged looks.

"That's a good question," Link replied, shaking his head. "We didn't really know anything was wrong until earlier when an archer bulbin fired at us on the Bridge of Eldin, like old times." He added with a small smile. "Anyway, we just figured it was a lone, crazy beast, so we ignored the fact that it had been there. Then, when we came back from the Hidden Village," At that, Midna gave him a strange look, and he answered with a look that said, 'I'll explain later.' "We found Castle Town being burned to ashes. We tried to help the villagers put out the fires and Zelda went atop the Goron's shop where she found the bulbins responsible. Then, she slipped, I guess, and Dark Link must have rescued her. After I went after her and found them on the rooftops, King Bulbin and his army bombed the castle to the ground..." He was skipping over the details of the sewers, which Midna needn't know.

"Then I wanted to check Ganondorf's remains," Zelda finally spoke up as she shifted her weight a little. Midna gave her a quizzical look, but Zelda didn't give her an answer.

"And?" She prodded with arms folded across her chest.

"And..." Zelda murmured, uneasily. "There wasn't anything there. His cape was gone... Every trace of him had just poofed. I _know_ Link killed him; The triforce symbol disappeared, your curse broke..." She trailed off and shook her head. "Anyway, King Bulbin attacked us with his boar, and we killed him." Midna raised an eyebrow.

"Obviously he was part of something... Did you ask him?" Zelda nodded.

"Of course." She replied and proceeded to explain what King Bulbin had said; Midna let out a low whistle.

"So, he basically told you that he, and his army of morons have been harassing many provinces? Did you guys check it out?" She asked, hands on her hips in that typical Midna fashion. What really worried her was the fact that the Bulbin leader had said that Link was "no longer the stronger side."

"Well, we checked out my village." Link said, an angry edge to his voice now. "There were so many. Zelda let me find the villagers while she took out the Bulbins. As it turned out, Ilia, her father, Colin, and his parents were captured. I have no clue where they are." At that moment, Midna let out a laugh that was so much different than her impish one. It was actually a rather beautiful sound with an alto tone. "What?" The swordsman asked, slightly frustrated.

"Well, well, well, Linky," Midna said with a wink. "Where would the best place, that we've been to, to imprison people? Who knows how many... More than five, at least." She waited for him to think on it.

Not the temple of time... That was nearly impossible to get to aside from the fact that it was on sacred ground. Not snowpeak... Yetta and Yetto would never allow it, of course... Not the Lakebed temple... Where...? Then, suddenly, it hit him. It would be in an isolated place where the enemy ruled. He looked up at her so fast that his neck practically snapped. "Arbiter's Grounds."

Midna smiled. "Exactly."  


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**A/N: Not too long of a chapter... sorry. xD Yus, Midna is back. I was going to bring her back in a more exciting way, but I couldn't think of anything, so I left it like this. :3 Next chapter: Return to Arbiter's Grounds! God, I **_**hated**_** that dungeon with a fiery passion. No joke. Read and review if you want more chapters! ;D**


	8. Temple of the Gerudos

How were they to get all the way to the desert, a weak Zelda had asked after returning them to the light world. Midna had chuckled at her as if it were obvious. "It took a lot of power for me to get us here," She said with her hands on her hips, "but I can at least transport us to the Mesa. Not the mirror chamber, though," the princess added with an apologetic face.

Now, however, they were struggling through the desert as the morning sun begun to rise. "We have terrible timing." Link remarked bitterly as he looked at himself and then the two princesses. All three of them were wearing heavy clothing that he was sure they would regret.

"At least that old temple is cool." Midna tried to point out; Link groaned in response. How they were even _supposed_ to get through even the beginning of the dungeon was a mystery to him. Surely the Bulbins had found a way to get their captives in. Link felt his heart drop into his stomach. Unless they had let them drown in quicksand... He shivered and shook the thought from his head. _'Don't think that way.'_ He scolded himself.

"You know what's odd? We've been through here goddesses know how many times and I've never spotted a local Gerudo." Link pointed out as he slashed at the monsters swimming through the sand and jumping out at them. Midna nodded in agreement.

"That is odd. They're all female, right? Maybe they don't reveal themselves because they're afraid of being attacked or something." Midna suggested, but Zelda shook her head.

"Hardly. Since a male is only born every so often, the females are brought up to be very good fighters." Zelda replied. "Besides, Ganondorf was the last male to be born to the Gerudos and since he didn't stick around, the woman didn't produce anymore children. In other words, the Gerudos must have died off." Link and Midna frowned.

"That's what Ganondorf does best: He screws up and makes everyone else's lives shitty." Midna growled, pitying the poor Gerudo women who had waited for Ganondorf to return to them so that more children could be born.

"Killing off a whole race, huh?" Link let out a small whistle. "Leave it to Ganondorf." He muttered as they climbed the familiar path to the fortress. There were no enemies so far and that greatly surprised him. When they finally made it to the fortress, it was... empty. Link was absolutely astounded. "Maybe we were wrong." He murmured disdainfully as he and Midna headed for the open gate that would lead to the temple. Suddenly, they both froze in their tracks when they heard, not exactly a scream, but a gasp that had caught in Zelda's throat. They whirled around to find the Princess half-dazed with a regular arrow sticking into her right shoulder, which was bleeding profusely.

"Pr-Princess..." Midna muttered in awe before she got a hold of her senses and ran toward Zelda, who was sinking to her knees. Link covered her while still facing the fortress now with a shield raised and the Ordon sword brandished. "It's not that bad..." He heard Midna attempt to soothe Zelda. "Okay, this is going to hurt a bit, but bare with me. One, two... three." There was a sickening sound as Midna ripped the arrow out of Zelda's body, managing to get arrowhead and all.

Mechanically, Zelda ripped off a large piece of cloth from the bottom of her gown and allowed Midna to tie it over the wound. Link's blue eyes darkened with rage as he searched the area for a sign of the perpetrator, but he couldn't find a thing. "Fuck," He growled, "we're being snipped." Snipping with arrows was possibly the most effective and safe way to kill off the enemy. If they couldn't see you, then how could they stop you?

Midna's eyes searched the area for something, anything to help them out... And then she did. Hanging on a cliff just to the right was a bit of hawk grass. Even from that angle, she wouldn't be able to spot the sniper, but Link could call the hawk for help. She disappeared into a bunch of bubbles and reappeared by the hawk grass. She plucked it and came down by Link. The princess shoved it at him. "Blow like the wind, Link." Was all she said with a knowing smirk. Link's face flushed pink a little as he held the shield with one hand and blew into the grass with the other.

The tune echoed throughout the empty desert; It almost sounded desperate for a change. Like magic, a hawk screeched and came to rest on Link's right arm. He looked at it with an intense look to try and get across his message; It was so much easier as a wolf. The hawk's eyes almost seemed to widen and it seemed to understand what he wanted. It gave another great cry as it started into the air and looked around; A clumsy arrow missed him by a mile. Well, that was one way to track down the monster.

The hawk spotted the Bulbin archer concealed behind a rock partially. Well, that explained why he was so hard to spot. The hawk cried once more and swept in on the Bulbin, pecking its eyes out; It needn't be killed... blinded was good enough. Link saw the hawk emerge from the concealed spot, look at him, and cry before taking off into the sky. He smiled in appreciation as it went before looking back at the other two. "Now we proceed with caution... agreed?" He asked them. They both nodded earnestly and started forward.

Link slowed his pace and held out his bow before they left the safety of the passageway. He looked both ways and, once again, he couldn't spot a single enemy. "Link." Midna's tone was serious. He turned around and looked at her with one eyebrow raised. She was holding something in her hand. When he reached out to touch it, however, she snapped her hand back as if he had tried to break her wrists.

"What is wrong with...?" He began, but was cut off as Midna opened her hand to reveal a chunky piece of what may have looked like some sort of charred wood to other humans; Link, however, knew better. "You still have it?" Link asked, astonished.

"That's not all!" Midna stated with an uncharacteristic wink. She closed her eyes and focused for a few minutes. Link and Zelda both watched with confused expressions until a dark light engulfed Midna and she reappeared as her old, impish self.

"Wow." Zelda said, softly. Midna giggled that annoying little giggle of hers; Oh, how Link had missed it! He smiled, softly as memories embraced him.

"It might be easier to move around as a wolf although you _are_ out of practice." She added with a roll of her eyes. Link earnestly reached out for the magic, the only trace of Zant left in the world... but then, he stopped. Midna blinked. "What ails you?" She demanded of him in a really annoyed voice.

"What about Zelda?" Said Princess smiled reassuringly.

"Give me your sword and your shield; It might be better this way." She said to him with such a bright smile that he had to agree. He was hesitant when he placed his scabbard in her waiting hand.

"You're weak; How are you going to protect yourself?" He demanded. She simply continued to smile.

"Don't worry so much!" She chided him. Finally, Link smiled and nodded.

"Okay." Midna felt something in her chest drop at the look they were giving each other, but she chose to ignore it. She had left, she had not said anything... It did not matter.

"C'mon, c'mon, we don't have all day." Midna groaned as she used to. Link finally reached out and touched the dark magic stick. Instantly, he felt his bones shift, the color that he saw through his eyes faded to black and white, and he suddenly had a whole bunch of scents rushing into his nostrils. Wolf Link shifted uncomfortably on the ground, totally unused to this form. A familiar and sharp pain hit his back as Imp Midna plopped onto his back. "C'mon," She urged him again, this time pulling on his fur as she used to. "Let's go!"

Link took off at a burst of speed and followed the path up to the temple. He heard the slamming of arrows against his shield which sounded so much louder as a wolf. Midna kept glancing back to see how Zelda was holding back and obviously what she saw pleased her because she didn't say anything. Zelda was relieved when they stood before the large temple, a wind of foreboding hitting them as they entered through the doorway...

"Whoa!" Midna couldn't help but gasp as they followed the steps down to the beginning of the temple. Last time they had been in there, there was no floor--it had all been quicksand with a few structures here and there for them to get across to the next room, but now there was a marble floor nicely lit with candles.

They treaded uneasily on the ground, as if expecting it to fall through at any moment. And for a while, they were fine. Link couldn't really smell anything other than death and Zelda's flowery scent as he trailed behind her. After all, this _had been a prison_. To smell death here was to be expected; He had smelled it last time, too. Zelda let out a sudden scream that knocked Link out of his thoughts. She quickly jumped back as the end of the flooring began to cave in and a horde of beetles crawled out of their now destroyed home, furious at being awoken. The Princess continued to move backward, but the beetles simply jumped on her, weighing her down.

The weight on Link's back lifted as Midna began to zap the bugs crawling all over Zelda's body; The Princess was too shocked to grasp the situation. "Link," Midna whistled and pointed to the next room. "Head for the land before you fall into the quicksand." It was true, too. All around them, the floor was breaking apart revealing more and more beetles and the monsters from earlier that swam in the sand. Midna knocked off most of the beetles and pulled Zelda for the firm ground before them, but the Princess was already knee-deep in sand and Link wasn't sure she'd make it. Maybe it had been a bad idea to bring Zelda with. She had seen horrors, but he wasn't sure she could handle this temple. He barked encouragingly at her at any rate and Zelda managed to climb out of the quicksand.

"Zelda..." Midna started slowly although he could feel the anger and frustration rolling off the imp in waves. "You've gotta watch it or else you're going to get us all killed!" She snapped, but Zelda wasn't paying attention, much to her annoyance. Instead, the Hylian Princess had her cyan eyes fixed on her hand with her mouth slightly open.

Link looked down at his own paw and saw something surprising, too. All of a sudden, he felt the shifting of his bones back into a bipedal setup and all of the scents that filled his nostrils faded. He was astonished to find himself human again. Zelda turned around, still on the ground, and held out her hand; Link repeated the process. Midna gasped as she saw both of the triforces on their hands flashing.

Zelda stood up with a stiffened body as she handed Link his sword and shield. "I suddenly find myself wishing that you had the Master Sword, Link." How could this be? What kind of majestic trick _was _this? Why were Nayru, Farore, and Din not on their side? She felt something warm burn her eyes as she ran through her thoughts. Angry tears slid down her face and she clutched her hands into fists. Link scrambled to his feet and Link heard a set of feet hit the ground. Midna was back in her normal form.

"Let's proceed... no matter what happens." Midna stiffly said to them. Both girls had their bodies tensed as if preparing for a hard blow; Maybe they were onto something.

**--**

"Why do you test us like this?!" A soft, raspy voice of a woman demanded. She had short, blond hair and was kneeling on the ground of a dark cell. Her cheeks were stained with all of the tears she had cried since arriving here. Why did the goddesses _mock_ them? A gentle hand caressed her cheek and gently turned her toward the owner of said hand. Uli's red eyes stared into the sad and tired eyes of her husband.

He shushed her as he took both of his arms and drew her to him. His body ached with every movement that he made, but he could care less. "Uli, do not lose hope," Rusl spoke softly to his wife as she buried her face in his shoulder. "Link will come for us."

A sharp "ouch!" drew their attention away from each other and toward their son sitting in the corner of the cell. He stabbed a demonic rat through its torso as he drew a finger to his mouth. "Colin," An exasperated, younger, female voice said. A slender, frail-looking girl crawled over to the boy and took his hand to see the bite; It wasn't too deep.

"Do you know how unsanitary it is to do that? If that rat was carrying a disease, then you have it too, now!" She lectured him in the tone of a mother. At the other end of the room, leaning against a wall, a large man who appeared to have small tusks sighed. Bo looked at his daughter and shook his head. She yelled at him a lot to act more like a mayor or be more responsible; Ilia was a lot like Uli and would probably take up being the matriarch of the village.

"Honestly, Colin," Uli said as she wiped tears out her eyes and turned toward her son, "She's right." Rusl crawled back over to Bo and sat against the wall next to him.

"What're we gonna do?" He asked the other man weakly. Rusl was covered in blood, scratches, cuts, and dirt; Bo did not look much better.

"We will wait, as they have been saying, for Link." The mayor grunted in response. Ilia suddenly turned toward them with her green eyes sparkling.

"I know it, father! I know Link will come!" She insisted with her hands clutched together. "He has to..." She added in a silent whisper so that only she and Colin could hear it.

**--**

The light of the triforces had stopped glowing once they entered the next room. It was still as dark as Link remembered it, and as he made to draw his old lantern, Midna grabbed a torch instead. She stuck out a hand to prevent Link and Zelda from proceeding as she examined the room. Well, _this_ room was still filled with quicksand.

"Those mini-stalfos are probably still in here," Link whispered to her as she whipped the torch around. She nodded and held out a hand that was darkening with dark magic.

"That's not too bad; Let's head to the next room." Midna told them and began to walk. Zelda pulled out her rapier sword and followed behind Link; Both of them examined the dark room as if they could see the dark corners without lighting. The Hylian princess had to clasp one hand over her mouth as something brushed her shoulder. **(A/N: Dun, dun, DUN! ;D) **When she turned around, she found herself facing some sort of failed child's clay project. It seemed to have a slight human appearance although its head lopped to the side and it moved like a zombie.

After a minute of looking at it, the monster let out its own scream, and Zelda felt every muscle in her body freeze; Her rapier sword clattered to the ground noisily. "Zelda?" Link and Midna both called in concerned tones as they turned around to find the Princess frozen before some sort of odd beast.

"What is that thing?!" Midna demanded as she took half a step back. Link was already pulling out an arrow and co-oping it with a bomb.

"A real redead!" He replied before releasing the arrow at the badly made human. The blast knocked Zelda to his feet and caused the redead to fall to the ground in a puddle of... clay? That was the last thing Link saw before the light from Midna's torch went out.

"Oh, shoot!" She snarled as it clattered to the ground. "Tripped over a stupid rat!" Link groped for Zelda in the darkness. He found her arm and dragged her to where he knew where the door was. He seized Midna with his free hand, then released them both and headed into the next, dimly lighted room.

The room still looked the same, overall. Well, except for the fact that there were only two doors now and the balconies had been crushed. It was still mostly dark, light coming from the four candles in the north section of the room. "This is... so much... easier than last time..." Midna murmured as she looked around. Her eyelids drooped; Why was she suddenly sleepy?

Link glanced back at her. "Midna? What's wrong?" He asked, eyes widening in surprise as she began to sway. His voice sounded so far away to her. The world was turning and turning... and then it fell. But she didn't feel her body hit the cold tiled ground. Midna looked up and was barely aware that Zelda had caught her and was trying to speak to her, but Midna couldn't hear her... She had to give in to this feeling of tiredness. Oh, how she could use sleep...

"Midna!" Zelda shouted, shaking the twili without much success. Suddenly, the weight of Midna shifted from Zelda's lap as Link took her and put her arm around his shoulders. He handed Zelda the Hylian shield once more.

"It's useless. She must have used most of her energy by coming to this world. And then she transported us here, and she really hasn't stopped since. I'm sure she'll come to." Link carefully dragged the twili princess up the stairs into the next room. "Be careful; I have no clue what we'll be facing next." Zelda nodded and followed Link into the next room.

Behind them, a deep voice roared with laughter. "You have no clue how right you are, Hero."

The next room was very different. It was darker now, and longer. Link had to wonder who had done the renovations. "LINK!" Exasperated voices cried out as they stood in the middle of the room. Link's hand immediately went to the hilt of his sword. "No, no! Look over here!" The female voice seemed to chide him. The swordsman turned to the right and found Ilia with her faced pressed to the bars of a cell.

"Ilia!" Link called out, surprised. Then, he noticed Colin, Bo, Rusl, and Uli. Maybe the Goddesses were done with their cruelty. Zelda noticed his hands were full, so she strode over to the cells in that elegant way she moved underlined with panic.

"Step back." She ordered the young girl in a soft voice. Ilia immediately backed away from the bars. Zelda put a hand to the bars and then struck it out in an extremely fast movement as electricity smashed into them. Then, she moved back a few paces and watched as a large chunk of the bars fell. The prisoners cheered and climbed out of the cell, looking gratefully at their rescuers.

"Oh, Link," Ilia said in a voice full of awe as she stared at the other princess with the tribal markings. "Is that her? Is that Midna?" Link blinked, surprised that she knew. He nodded, unable to find words. Why was he suddenly so choked up?

"Who did this to you?" Zelda's voice was soft and calm, but again she had an underlying panic to it.

"Those monsters, those... er... Bulbins." Rusl answered the Princess. As if suddenly realizing who she was, he bowed and winced at the action. "Oh! Princess! I... er... so sorry..." He muttered with the others following suit. Zelda waved her hand.

"It doesn't matter." She replied as she placed a hand on Rusl's shoulder. Link's eyebrows knitted together, wondering what she was doing. Suddenly, a white light emitted from Zelda's hand and entered first Rusl, then jumped to Uli, then Bo, then Colin, and finally Ilia. Zelda swayed a little but managed to maintain her balance; Link couldn't carry two of them.

"Th-thank you, Princess." Rusl muttered sheepishly; He suddenly felt like a million rupees.

"No problem." She replied with a smile. Suddenly, the familiar slab of rock blocking entrance to any of the old rooms moved and locked into a new place to reveal more ReDeads with Stalfos behind them. Zelda heard Link mutter a curse as he prepared to set down Midna. Although she felt exhausted, Zelda ran forward and snapped a fire spell at a few ReDeads, burning them alive. Behind them, Ilia clung to her father and Uli held onto Colin's shoulders. Once again, Zelda swayed and heard Link call her name. She steadied herself and glanced back at him over her shoulder. "Stalfos and ReDeads are very commonly known as Ganondorf's army, Link. There's no point in repressing the thought; He's alive, somehow."

As if she had spoken the magic words, both Triforces began to glow again, and Zelda was hit from the side by a spell that knocked her into a wall and took away her consciousness. Link lightly set down Midna on the ground as he jumped to his feet and pulled out his sword.

Dark laughter filled the room and chills flew down everyone's spine. Then, the room went dark and Ilia couldn't repress the scream that ripped from her throat.


	9. Return of a Menace

**A/n: Now, I was nice! I updated two chapters last night with only receiving one review. You should all thank Silver! xD; Please, please, please! I need at LEAST one review every chapter, otherwise I feel like no one is reading this and no one cares... So, even if you aren't a member of Fanfiction, just leave an anonymous review! :3 (By the by, Silver's probably got your little butts covered for this story, too. :P)**

**The beginning of this chapter came in such a flash; I got on the computer on thursday morning because I had a lot of extra time for once before school, and my fingers typed away. Anyway, summer's here now, thank the gods. **

**Okay, guys, I am so sorry it took this long to get this chapter up. I've been so busy that I haven't had time do much of anything, really, despite the fact this chapter's been done since Friday...**

**Disclaimer-I. Do. Not. Own. Zelda. But I own my awesome story line.  


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Link did not know what to do. The ReDeads were staggering over to Zelda, if he stepped away from Midna, she would be attacked. Worst of all, if Link chose to face _him_, no one would be there to protect the others. Oh, what could he do? As if answering his question, Rusl pulled out his sword beside Link. "I'll take care of the monsters," He quietly murmured to Link, "You take out that tyrant!"**

Before Link could protest, Rusl let loose a battle cry and ran at the ReDeads nearing Zelda, slashing them away. "I'll help!" Colin cried, and, much to everyone's horror, he headed after his father with sword in hand. Link turned toward the dark-cloaked man with a look of deep disliking.

"Oh, what's wrong, Hero? Are you not pleased to see me well?" The deep voice asked as a smirk appeared on its owner's face. Link simply snarled in response. "I was so foolish the last time that we met," He continued, acting as if he had heard nothing out of Link, "I thought that I could simply take over Hyrule whilst you and your foolish twili friend," He gestured to the unconscious Midna, "Ran around trying to break that curse on you; I never anticipated your power when we finally faced each other.

"In the past, my downfalls have been caused by one thing: underestimating. I underestimated the Hero of Time, who slept for seven years and came back as a teenager with some supped up moves," His drawl continue, a snarl beginning on his face, "I underestimated the Hero of Winds, who was nothing more than a child with a baton." His face was contorted when he stared at Link. "And finally, I underestimated _you_, who is nothing more than an ignorant goat herder!"

Ganondorf's face was contorted with rage. "Further more," He continued in a fashion as if he were delivering a speech, "I underestimated the Zeldas in each situation as well. The Zelda who assisted the Hero of Time was naïve, but clever. Then again, if it weren't for her, I might have never seized the Triforce of Power." He added with a satisfied smirk. Link scowled at him, confirming what he and Zelda had both thought they knew; This Ganondorf _was_ the same one as the one during the Imprisoning War. "She evaded me for seven years with that blasted disguise that I noticed your little Zelda adopted as well." He added venomously. "The Zelda assisting the Hero of the Winds was nothing more than a lowlife pirate! Had that damned bird never been attacked and dropped her, then she would have never found out who she really was; Then again, I suppose I owe her a thank you," A distorted smile was slowly creeping onto his face, "After all, she handed over her piece of the Triforce rather easily; It was her father who stopped me in my tracks.

"And finally, _her_," Ganondorf gestured at the unconscious princess that Rusl was guarding, "She might have been perhaps the cleverest at all. Then again, she is a terrible leader; After all, she allowed her Kingdom to fall under the Twilight and now she has had many of her people slain. It wasn't easy to take her over since she was merely a vessel without a soul. Why I didn't take her Triforce, I don't know," He added, muttering more to himself.

"And then the two of you thought you killed me, didn't you?" Ganondorf laughed at the look on Link's face. "Ah, fools. You cannot kill me while I still have the Triforce of Power in my hand!" He held up his hand at that moment and the symbol flashed brightly, as did Link's.

"You can't be immortal," Link snarled as he ran forward. "I will take you down!" Ganondorf only laughed at his attempts and blocked with his sword.

"Fool, you barely beat me last time, and this time you are _weak_. The only reason you had an easier time was because of the series of battles we had; Zelda's light arrows weakened me greatly, as well." Ganondorf pushed Link off and slammed him into a wall.

"Colin!" Ilia screamed suddenly. She had her head ducked under her hands with her father standing before her and Uli hugging her close; There were at least five Stalfos standing around them, encasing them in a circle. Colin whirled on his feet and watched in horror as a Stalfos raised a sword over his mother's head; The distance was too far... He was on the other side of the room. Rusl tore himself away from guarding Zelda and ran toward his wife. There was no way he could make it... Link watched with horror and quickly raised his sword to block Ganondorf's.

A burst of fire hit the attacking Stalfos and caused his body to fall apart at Uli's feet. The group of them looked around, confused. Zelda, panting a little, was standing up now with her hands in a motion to send another fireball at the remains; The remains disappeared into smoke upon contact with the fireball. "Th-thank you!" Uli stuttered to the princess as her husband slashed away at the remaining skeletons. Zelda smiled in return and nodded. Then, she reached over her shoulder for an arrow and concentrated.

Yellow light surrounded first the arrowhead and then engulfed the whole arrow; Zelda notched it into her bow and aimed at Ganondorf; The tyrant could feel the arrow on him. The light coming from the arrow made his stomach tighten uneasily. He dropped his sword away from Link and turned to face Zelda, taking a few steps forward; Zelda took a few steps backward in response. "I can kill you with the snap of my fingers, Zelda. Are you sure you want to be pointing that arrow at me?" His eyes were no longer amused; They were deadly.

"This really doesn't involve her! Back off!" An infuriated Link shouted as he ran in front of Ganondorf and threw out his hands.

"Link, you need my help to do this!" Zelda insisted as she slowly pointed the arrow at the floor.

"Zelda," Link turned around to face her, "You take Midna and the others and get out of here...!" He suddenly felt the cool edge of a blade at his neck.

"The Princess doesn't have to go anywhere," Ganondorf growled quietly, dangerously. "In fact, I would like to kill the two of you together and then take the Triforce of Wisdom and Courage. Then, I'll kill Midna and your little friends, and I will become ruler of Hyrule and the Twilight realm!"

Ganondorf heard a snarl come from behind him and whirled about. "You're crazy, Ganondorf! Have you been thinking of this for a while? Maybe you should invest your time in something else!" Midna growled at him.

The King looked at Midna, then Link, and finally Zelda. He spat at the twili's feet. Then, a rush of pain snared him in the back, and he felt he was no longer able to use his body. "What...?" He asked with stiff lips as he tried to get out the words. Midna was only smiling her impish smile at him.

"Sucks, doesn't it?" She spat at him as a dark ball appeared in her hands. Midna waited until it was rather large and then released it, causing Ganondorf to fly in the wall on the other side of the room.

"Now, then," Zelda growled as she, Link, and Midna crept over to Ganondorf. "Tell me what has become of the people of Castle Town and the people of every other province and person."

Ganondorf managed to get out a strangled laugh. "You think you have won." **(A/N: I spelled that as 'one' earlier, which totally confused me. xD)** It was not a question, it was a statement. The rock wall slid over more to reveal more monsters. Many more monsters. Keese were swooping in on them and even more Stalfos were entering the area with their Stalchildren. ReDead soldiers were joining the ranks.

Link looked around, horrified; They were surrounded. "Midna," He said, urgently, as he turned toward said princess. "Please, teleport them to the village; They should be safe there." Midna nodded and turned toward them. With the snap of her fingers, Rusl, Uli, Colin, Ilia, and Bo disappeared into disfigured twilight specs and disappeared from the area. Then, he and Midna looked back to find a terrifying sight.

Zelda was not weak. That was the one thing she wished to be clear for everyone else. She was _not_ weak; She would say it on her deathbed if she had to, which could be coming soon. Ganondorf, enraged, held her by the throat, pressing her to the wall. The Princess's face was slowly turning blue. _'I... am not... weak...'_ Her mind was becoming foggy, and it was getting harder to breathe. Link tried to stab Ganondorf from behind, but the man was wearing so much _armor_...

The Princess's hands were clutched onto Ganondorf's out of reflex, but now electricity was shooting out of them. At first, it was just a few shocks, but then it came out as a full force attack, forcing Ganondorf to drop the Princess. He drew back into the shadows with a maniacal smile upon his face. "Do not think this is over; I have been kind enough to let the three of you rats run around for a bit longer to try to revive this destroyed, cursed Kingdom." He paused and took in the angry expressions of the other three. "Might I suggest checking, oh, just about every area in Hyrule?" With that, he disappeared into a purple-black portal; That was new...

Link turned away from where Ganondorf had been and began to slash away at the Keese as they swooped down in flocks. "There are too many..." Zelda muttered weakly from the floor. Her her hands sparked feebly with electricity which she tried to use to shock a ReDead; It only appeared to anger it, if a clump of magic shaped into an inhuman figure could feel any emotion at all.

Midna shot a dark energy ball at a nearing Stalfos and then snapped. She, Zelda, and Link disappeared in the same fashion as Ilia and the others, and they were saved from their demise. For the moment.

**xxxxxxxxx**

Link was relieved when he found where Midna had brought them. They were back in Ordon. He turned back to thank the twili, but she was lying on the ground, unconscious. Beside her, Zelda was fighting to stay awake. "Zel, can you help me bring her to my house?" Zelda nodded and somehow managed to get to her feet. Together, they dragged Midna from the very entrance of the village to Link's house. Somehow, they managed to both get her up the ladder and onto Link's bed. Once that was done, Zelda flopped on the floor; Link noticed that her breathing was still labored and there were bruises that showed where Ganondorf had grabbed her around the throat.

_'Goddesses, he could have finished her off easily...'_ He mused for the first time, realizing how lucky they really were. Link went over to her and kneeled on the floor before her. "Are you alright?" She waved him off.

"I'm fine; I'm completely without magic, but I am fine." A thought came to Zelda's mind at that point. "I hope that those books are still in good condition back at the Castle..." Link looked at her with a shocked expression.

"You want to go back? No offense, Zelda, but you look like you couldn't move a muscle if you wanted to." Zelda smiled slightly as if to prove him wrong.

"Well, _you_ don't happen to have any history books on you, do you?" She asked and wasn't surprised when he shook his head no.

"Bo does, though. I could ask him for some." Zelda nodded in response.

"I'll stay here with Midna."

**xxxxxxxxx**

Link stumbled through town and over to Bo's house. He hadn't realized it, but his body was in a lot more pain than he thought. Maybe he should've headed over to the spring first... He stopped before the door and knocked twice. They couldn't have gotten back much later than the others. It might have taken ten minutes at the most.

He was about to give in, but then the door opened. "Oh, Link!" Link suddenly felt another body hit his as Ilia enveloped him in a hug from behind.

"Are you alright?" He finally got to ask. She nodded, gratefully.

"Thanks to you and your wonderful companions." Ilia stepped back, and Link turned around. She looked up and down at him as if she was examining him. Which she was. "Link, you look terrible." Her lips were set in a firm line.

"You don't look so hot yourself..." He muttered back and received a thwack on the head for his statement. "Anyway, Ilia," Link began in a serious tone, causing her eyes to turn from a glare into a concerned look. "I need to borrow some history books..."

Ilia blinked at him. "For the Princess, no doubt. You've never taken much an interest in them." She remarked with a small smirk. He sighed.

"How do you know? Maybe I used to borrow them from your father and read them at night?" He answered with a smile; It was true, after all. Rusl had always gone on about the similarities between him and the past heroes, so he had to read all of the books he could get his hands on. Ilia rolled her eyes and stepped to the side of the door.

"Come in."

**xxxxxxxxx**

Zelda had not much shifted position when Link left; She was watching for someone to break in, so there was no need for her to move. _If_ she could move, that is. A groan from higher up finally drew the Princess out of her thoughts and caused her to climb up the ladder to sit beside Midna, who was slowly stirring. "You weren't out for very long." She pointed out to the twili as she blinked up at the Hylian.

"Ugh. We're at Link's house? Where is 'e?" She groggily asked Zelda as she sat up.

"He went to get some books for me." Was Zelda's simple reply. A moment of silence passed between them before Zelda spoke again. "What are you doing back here, Midna?" The vindictive tone caused the twilight princess to stare at her friend with wide eyes.

"What's with the hostility, Zelda?" Midna murmured, allowing her eyes to travel down to the bed sheet as she began to fumble with it.

Zelda's deep, azure eyes watched Midna play with the sheet. "It's just that you abandoned us without a word of why. Then, you turn up some time later when trouble starts up?" Suddenly, the twili knew where the hylian was going with this.

"Ah. You think this is another Zant." Midna murmured, her voice laced with accusation. The air between them was so tense that you could cut it with a sword.

"I'm only saying that it wouldn't be unlike you to return because the twilit world was having problems again," Zelda murmured softly, almost gently. "Then again, you sit here before me as your regular self, and I honestly don't see why you would use so much magic to come here unless it was for something important..." Midna felt Zelda's eyes burning a hole in her cheeks, so she lifted her eyes to stare into Zelda's.

"What exactly are you trying to get at, _Princess_?" She spat the words as she had when she had first come to the light world: With anger and sarcasm behind every word.

"Midna, did you somehow know what was going on here?" Zelda asked, her tone full of only curiosity now.

"No..." Midna replied, softly as her eyes dropped back to the sheet. "I mean, I had a feeling, but I didn't _**know**_..."

Suddenly, Zelda's breath got caught in her throat as if she had realized something horrid. Once again, Midna brought her eyes to Zelda's. "Why did you come?" The hylian princess suddenly demanded with an uncharacteristic anger in her tone.

Something in Midna's head clicked that she hadn't really brought to the surface of her thoughts since she had come. An impish smile stretched her features somewhat demonically. "You think I have come here to take Link..."

Zelda's eyes narrowed as she suddenly stood up. "You _did_."

Midna merely shook her head. "I suppose, then, Zelda... that we won't be as... appreciative of each other as before, hmm?"

"I suppose not." Zelda snapped as she slid down the ladder and slammed the door behind her as she left the house. _'What am I so angry about?'_ The princess asked herself as she stormed toward the Ordon spring. She rubbed her temples and sat down in the middle of the spring with fairies rushing around her to heal her. "This... is going to be harder than before." She was barely aware that her eyes were closing, and she was slipping into sleep.

**xxxxxxxxx**

Before returning back to his house, he had been sure to check on the other villagers to be sure they were alright. Everyone was glad to have the village full once more and although Uli was a bit shaken, she was very grateful that her baby girl had been saved. Colin had almost begged Link to stay for dinner, but Link had found himself able to insist that he had to return to Midna and Zelda.

Now, when he entered his house, he could feel the tense air from the disagreement that Midna and Zelda had had. He glanced around to find Zelda no where in sight, so he dumped the books on the floor, and climbed up to see Midna, who was sitting up in the bed. "Oh, Link." She said with a small smile when sat beside her. "You're back."

"You look well," Link remarked, then corrected himself. "Better." Her skin was still just a faint blue, reminding him of a fish without water. "Where's Zelda?" He finally inquired, causing Midna's attitude to turn sour.

"Where indeed..." She replied; Link almost expected her to cackle at the end of her sentence, but she didn't. His eyebrows knitted together as he stared at her.

"Did something happen?" His tranquil blue eyes stared into Midna's, and she heaved a sigh.

"A slight disagreement." Was all she said. Link sighed and stood up. He really should have expected as much.

"I'm going to find her. With the way she is now, being out alone could be dangerous." He heard Midna snort slightly as he descended the ladder but chose to ignore it. Although he hadn't pressed Midna about what she and Zelda had 'disagreed' about, he had a feeling that he might have an idea.

**xxxxxxxxx**

Link's feet crunched on the sand as he entered the spring; It wasn't too hard to spot Zelda in the midst of fairies. When he knelt down beside her, she appeared to be sleeping. He nudged her, but she didn't wake. "Zelda?" He asked, concerned.

"Do not fear," The voice of the familiar Great Fairy spoke. She appeared out of literally nowhere. Link smiled at her; It was always nice to see her at the springs since he had freed her from that terrible cave. "She is simply in a trance."

"A trance?" Link asked, his eyebrows furrowing together; The Great Fairy giggled and nodded.

"I believe she is communicating with the spirits of the light." She offered before disappearing into light herself. Zelda's wide eyes opened slowly, and she jumped slightly when she noticed Link was sitting beside her.

"Oh! When did you get here?" She asked, stifling a yawn; Zelda looked even more tired than before.

"A couple of minutes ago." Link answered with a small smile. "What was that trance about?" Zelda blinked at him, then smiled.

"Ah, that Great Fairy is far wiser than she looks." She admitted with a brief grin. "I sought out the light spirits for help... I was hoping they could try to tell me what was going on, but they can't see much from their springs.

"Lanrayu was useful, though. Kind of. He said that Hyrule was filling with beasts, more beasts than when Ganondorf seized power before. He said that he definitely sensed Ganondorf's evil, but there may be another evil power at work. Ordon also said that to destroy Ganondorf, we need to use a power we didn't put too much thought in before... I have no clue what he meant, though." Zelda added with a small, sad sigh. "No one seems to know what has happened to the other denizens of this kingdom... We must travel far and wide to start checking things out soon..."  


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**A/N: very uneventful chapter, I'm sorry. I'll try to make the next one really good. Already I have an idea for a future fic that probably won't be related to this one, but it will be Zelda. I still have to finish two Kingdom Hearts fics, though. xD**

**I have no clue how long this story is going to be, but I bet it will be less than my Kingdom Hearts stories. Not much longer than 20, if that.**


	10. The Missing Piece

**A/N: Okay, so everyone owes The-Lesser-of-two-Goods, Silver, and AtemuManaLover a big thanks for their reviews. xD You also owe Lesser a lot of gratitude and a nice major plot line which will involve the WHOLE triforce more and stuffs. You'll find out later, though. ;D**

**By the way, this chapter contains speculation on the middle piece of the Triforce--mostly stuff I have made up and stuff that Lesser has added as well. If you don't agree with what I say, then good; It **_**is only true in this story**_**. It's also rather confusing at parts.**

**Disclaimer-If I owned Legend of Zelda would I continuously say that I didn't? I thought not. Read and review, loves. xD  


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"So," Rusl started nervously that evening as he and Link hung by the Faron pond. Uli, Sera, and Pergie were making a huge dinner for the whole town in special honor of Zelda and Midna who had been ordered not to lift a finger, but they both had helped anyway. "All we know is that Ganondorf is alive for some odd reason and that Telma and the others are... MIA. We don't have a lot to work with, Link."

Link nodded as he stared at the Triforce symbol that he had had since he had been born. A cursed fate, huh? Every Link and every Zelda used all their power to seal away Ganondorf, but he always came back. He _knew_, though. He could clearly remember the Triforce of Power fading off of Ganondorf's hand when he delivered the final blow. How was it possible for him to be revived once more? _'Maybe we're destined to be doing this for all eternity.'_

"Link! Are you listening, Link?" Rusl shouted at the teenaged boy who jumped at the yell.

"Sorry." said Link as he rubbed the back of his head and looked sideways at Rusl. "What were you saying?"

Rusl groaned and rubbed his face. "I said that you should go get that Master Sword before dinner. It's the Blade of Evil's Bane, Link. If it brought Ganondorf down before, then it will do it again!" Link clutched the sand in his fists. If that were true, then Ganondorf wouldn't be alive still! If the Master Sword were the powerful, ultimate blade as they said, then this Ganondorf wouldn't be alive after so long.

Link slowly pushed himself off the ground and nodded. _'I'll be needing Midna's help, though.'_ He waved goodbye to Rusl and headed for the village.

**xxxxxx**

"The Pedestal of Time? Is that what the thing the Master Sword's in is called?" Midna asked with some interest as she put down a few plates on the huge table. Link nodded, watching her very move as she considered him. In the blink of his eyes, the twili, as she had so often done before, was at his ear. "So, do your friends know about your little canine problem?" Her tone wasn't threatening, just interested. Without speaking, Link shook his head. The twilight princess cackled. "Okay, okay. We'll go to Faron Woods and transform there, okay, doggie?" Midna said with a wide grin that made Link laugh.

"Link!" Ilia's voice called after them, making Link freeze in his tracks. She _couldn't_ follow them. He whirled around and gave a small wave. "Hey, where are you going? Dinner will be ready soon." She said, panting a little when she was standing in front of them. "Hi, Midna." The girl added with a smile. Midna smiled in return; She _loved_ not being treated like royalty.

Link opened his mouth to speak, but Midna's words came out instead. "There's something we have to get out of the dangerous patch of Faron Woods." _'Dangerous?'_ Ilia thought, skeptically, _'A dangerous patch? Every part of Faron Woods is dangerous...'_ "If you came, Ilia, you'd just be extra baggage; Link can't focus on the task at hand if he has to worry about defending you." Link blinked, his mouth wide with surprise. It was the truth, yes, but it sounded so harsh when Midna said it. To his surprise, however, Ilia nodded enthusiastically.

"You're completely right. The best thing I can do for Link is wait for him." She answered with a small smile before she backed away from them. "I'll save you two a seat." Link's mouth couldn't have possibly been hanging open any more than it already was. Ilia who had been so quick to scold him and her own father numerous times just allowed _Midna_ to tell her what to do? It just... wasn't like her.

Midna smiled encouragingly at Link before she signaled for him to keep walking. When they made it to the bridge between Ordon and Faron, Link spoke. "You know, you'll be lucky if Ilia doesn't make a voodoo doll of you," He chuckled. "Never does she let _anyone_ tell her what to do. Ah. Maybe she respects you."

"She certainly does," Midna said suspiciously. "She won't even call me 'Princess'." He looked at her sideways.

"Isn't that what you want?" Asked Link with the feeling that he was walking into a trap.

"Yes." Midna replied, stubbornly. The boy just didn't get it. "My point is, Link, what did you do?" She asked with accusations lacing her tone as they paused at the Faron spring.

"I told her a lot about you..." He mumbled sheepishly. Midna noticed that his cheeks were a little red. She laughed.

"Okay, okay. Good enough for me." She replied with a genuine smile. Then, she took a quick look around and nodded. "Okay! We should be perfect where we are." Midna took out the piece of magic that had been lodged into Link's skull when Zant had attacked them in Lanayru's spring. He touched it and immediately felt his bones shift into different positions as they shortened in length. His brain also decreased in size, but he could smell new scents. Like the one of Coro which wasn't exactly a delightful smell...

When he looked back up at Midna (and felt even shorter than he had before), he saw her eyes closed and her face concentrated. Without warning, a black light engulfed her, and she was floating in the air as an imp. Midna plopped onto his back, causing him to look back at her and growl a little out of habit. She patted his head and pulled his fur. "The portals are obviously still open, so let's just warp there." Wolf Link's body disappeared into little specs of twilight as he flew through the air with Midna following close behind.

**xxxxxx**

The books that the mayor of Ordon had were even better than Zelda's, she realized with envy. How was it possible that the royal family did not keep the best books around? Then, she remembered what her father had said. _'I would hate for you to get the wrong idea.'_ She had found him in his study one evening as a little girl with a whole bunch of books burning in the fireplace. Maybe he had forgotten that there were still many in the vault.

Zelda was laying on a small piece of land farther down the lake in the village. She had already tried to read the books in the village, but the children continued to stare at her in wonder and she could feel the awkward air around everyone else. Maybe it would be for the best if they left soon; It seemed that the villagers were nervous at having a twili, let alone the twilight princess around and Zelda's presence made them worry about... who knows what. The princess grabbed a book from the pile and found something that she had never seen before.

It was a book on the Triforce, yes, but it looked so old... She ran a finger down the smooth spine. The book was ripped and looked like it had seen better days, but maybe this was a sign of its greatness. Zelda opened to the first page and began to read.

_The Triforce, a most wonderful artifact. Since the beginning of time, the three pieces of Triforce have usually belonged to the same three people. The top of the triangle is the Triforce of Power belonging to Ganondorf; The left part is the Triforce of Wisdom belonging to Princess Zelda; The right part is the Triforce of Courage belonging to the hero, Link. _

_Although these pieces are often mentioned, there has not been much of a discussion about the missing piece in the center. In old legends, the middle piece was the most powerful of the piece as it was almost complete nothingness, which can, in theory, run on forever. It is not known exactly what happened to the fourth piece or what is or if it even exists. In fact, most wave it off as a fairy tale. _

_It is said that Din, Farore, and Nayru left behind the Triforce at the last point they were at in the world. The Triforce, being such a powerful artifact, was surrounded by the Light Realm with the help of the Seven Sages. _**(A/N: Pretty much completely making this up... xD)** _However, there was a time where the twili were still accepted in the light world and that is how the middle piece was created. During the time that Din, Farore, and Nayru were busying themselves with building Hyrule, the Twilight Gods were doing the same for the sake of those twili nomads. When they left, they combined their powers together to make the fourth piece that is even more powerful than the other three because the one piece was created by three Gods._

_If one were ever to come across the bearer of the fabled fourth piece, then the only way to beat it would be to gather_

Zelda stared at the page in disbelief. The ink had faded for the next few paragraphs! "How do you beat it?" She demanded, glaring at the book as if it would give her the answers. Sighing, she looked up at the sky as twilight fell. "It probably doesn't even exist." One line in particular from the end of the chapter stuck out at her: _The only time this piece of the Triforce was thought to be in existence was before the Imprisoning war, imprinted upon the Hylian Shield._

**xxxxxx**

The scents of fresh air, trees, grass, and dirt filled Wolf Link's nose as he descended to the ground in a solid form again. Once again, as he stood on the odd Triforce symbol printed on the ground **(A/N: Lolz, the means of teleportation if you have the Ocarina of Time ;D)**, he felt as if there were voices calling out to him. Maybe it was just the Skullkid getting into his head. Wolf Link grunted as Midna fell onto his back before he took off straight ahead for the Pedestal of Time.

When he was standing a few feet away from the sword, Link had Midna retransform him. "It's still there, huh?" He nodded in reply, smiling a little at the sign of his trusty sword. It wasn't that he didn't like his regular sword, the one he had stolen, but the Master Sword had been proving throughout history to be the best sword. Until recently.

Link shook off his lingering angry feelings and stepped up to get the sword. Midna watched Link walk off, but her eyes slowly trailed to the ground. It was still light out. At least, there was enough light for his shadow to appear.

Funny that a shadow wouldn't follow its master.

It didn't take long for Midna to put two and two together. "Duck, Link!" She shouted at him almost the same instant as Dark Link materialized and swung his sword at Link's head. Link reacted just in time, barely missing the attack.

Dark Link scowled (or so Midna assumed--it was hard to tell) at her as he whirled around. "You have an annoying habit of saving one another, and it's starting to piss me off!" He rushed at her with a fast speed, but she simply flew upward to avoid the blow. "Wait a second, you _can't_ be that beautiful princess from before..."

"Who? Zelda?" Midna spat as she sent a dark energy ball at him. Dark Link absorbed the hit with his sword causing Midna and Link to gape at him.

"No. The Twilight Princess." Dark Link purred as he parried Link's blow from behind with a lazy flick of his arm.

"How the hell can you even be here?" Midna demanded, her spine crawling at the thought of this shadow wanting her. "This is _sacred_ ground!"

Dark Link chuckled and nodded as he performed a quick spin attack that easily knocked Link away. "When you live in the hero's shadow, it's very easy to get anywhere. Seeing as how you haven't been in his shadow, I haven't had to compete for space." Link didn't understand. Not only did the Master Sword still retain the light power from the Sols, it also was the **Blade of Evil's Bane**_**. **_How was it possible for Dark Link to combat the Master Sword so easily?

"Who are you working for? Ganondorf again?" Link snarled as he rushed at Dark Link, who readied a stab. Link dove to the right of Dark Link at the last minute and rolled around to his back where he attacked him. The extra light from the sword burned through Dark Link's back. He fell onto all fours.

"Oh, bravo. You caught me. It was I who revived Ganondorf and started all of this shit; Yes, I am commanding the fearsome King of Evil!" Dark Link cackled madly.

Link's face darkened. "Then, I have no problem killing you. We've met for the last time!" He rushed at him and jumped in the air with the Master Sword poised in position to do the finishing move.

"Wait!" Midna shouted with such authority that Link immediately stabbed the Master Sword just inches short of Dark Link's head. Annoyed, Link glared at her.

"What?" He demanded as he pulled hard on the hilt to free the blade from the old ground.

Midna glared at Dark Link. "He was destroyed before by the Hero of Time," Link was surprised that even she was brushed up on Hyrule's history. "Ganondorf _was dead_. Only someone with the ability to revive the dead could have done this." She was surprised she hadn't realized it sooner. She had only just left her Kingdom and now...

"Who?" Link demanded of Dark Link, then Midna. "You know who?" He asked her, surprised. She nodded, slowly.

"Whoa!" Midna shouted when Dark Link moved with reflexes like a cat and pinned Link to the ground.

"Who indeed." Dark Link's face was inches from Link's and he could feel the hot breath on his face. "Why don't you tell me, o, Hero of Twilight." The red eyes were glaring into Link's and now Dark Link's sword was stabbed right beside his head. Link's skin crawled unpleasantly at the emphasis on his 'title' and the fact that Dark Link was so close. **(A/N: ;DDDDD)**

"Not someone in the Twilight realm?" Link demanded more than asked. If this was true, then...

"Why don't you ask your little girlfriend over there?" Dark Link's hot breath caused Link to squirm unpleasantly. His breath smelled like death and decay. How odd for a shadow to smell that way. Link tried to move, tried to get Dark Link off of him, but his shadow seemed to be much stronger than before. _'Something's happened...'_ Link realized almost at once. Dark Link pulled his sword out of the ground with ease and poked it at Link's throat a little, causing small droplets of blood to ooze out; The wound wasn't enough to cause any real damage. Just enough to make Link sweat. **(A/N: ;D Okay, I'm done now.)**

As it had once before, it seemed the Triforce of Courage sensed that Link's life was in danger, and it began to shine brightly. Dark Link dropped his sword to shield his eyes. In the next millisecond, he felt a sharp pain pierce his right shoulder. He dropped his arm to find a wolf's fangs dug into his shoulder. "Damn that Farore!" Dark Link snarled as he began to punch Wolf Link's head for the release of his shoulder.

Wolf Link growled but did not let go. Dark blood (or something of the sort) oozed from the wound. Another dark ball of Midna's hit Dark Link's side, forcing Wolf Link to release his shadow as it went flying. Wolf Link shook his whole body, causing droplets of his own blood, and the blood dripping from his mouth, to land on the ground.

"Your usefulness has ended, I think." Midna spat coldly at the pathetic creature before her. He lay on the ground, unmoving. Her ponytail reared and began to loop over her head, going in for the impaling kill. It stopped right before where Dark Link's heart would have been as a black barrier stopped it. At first, Midna thought someone else was doing it, until Dark Link's features began to shift dramatically.

Dark Link let out an earth-shattering scream as his muscles twitched and twisted beneath his skin. His eyes were almost popping out. And, little by little, the little monster was growing larger. Midna's breath caught in her throat as she watched the shadow twist into some fifteen-foot beast.

Her mouth gaped at what he had turned into: some majorly twisted, buffed up creature. "What the hell?" She heard growling from beside her and looked down at Link. His fur was standing on edge and his canines were bared at whatever Dark Link had turned into. "Don't attack him!" Midna warned. "I don't really get what's going on."

Dark Link ran at them with frightening speed. His steps caused craters to form in the ground. Midna roughly grabbed Link's body and hurled him and herself out of the way of the mindless rampage. She dropped down on the other side of the area. Wolf Link blinked his eyes a few times. There were strange figures flashing before his eyes. One was a girl who appeared to be about ten with green hair and a dark green headband to match. There also was a tall and well-built woman with white hair. Another was a second tall, well-built woman with long, red hair wearing a green outfit. Another girl appeared to be a young Zora who may have been about seventeen. There was a bulky Goron with wild, white hair. The last one was an old man wearing red robes.

_The six of them appeared to be arguing over something. "That's impossible!" roared the Goron. __**(A/N: I have to give so many warnings in this chapter. Ugh. Anyway, this obviously DID NOT really happen in Ocarina of Time. I made it up. :D)**_

_"They're evil sorcerers, Darunia, anything is possible." The old man in red robes gravely replied. _

_"How could they have enough power to...? They're evil!" Link now realized that the redhead was a Gerudo woman. The old man chuckled at the redhead's statement._

_"This is no time for light jokes, Rauru!" The white-haired woman snapped. He sobered up immediately._

_"I agree with Nabooru!" The Zora girl said as if that settled everything. "They must want to use that cursed power to take the Triforce!" _

_"Your people want the Triforce, too, Ruto." The green-haired girl spoke softly. Impa, Darunia, Ruto, and Nabooru glared at the girl. _

_"Easy for you to say, Saria, the Kokiri are just children!" Nabooru, the redhead, growled. _

_"Stop, stop, STOP!" The older man, Rauru, demanded with a roaring voice. All of them fell quiet. "There is no reason for us all to fight; We know the outcome. The fact of the matter is that these Dark Interlopers not only have the man-made magic, the Fused Shadows, but also some sort of piece of the 'Triforce'. _

_"Who could have made it?" Impa breathed silently._

_"The Gods of those Dark ones." Nabooru suddenly said as if it were obvious. "The evil ones that they pray to in order to steal our rightful power!" _

_Another argument broke out. "Come now! Nabooru," Rauru said with extreme seriousness, "You and I both know that King Ganondorf is going to swing things for the King of Hyrule so that no one gets that power." Nabooru shivered._

_Ruto snorted. "Or so he would like us to believe." _

_"What should we do? With those Fused Shadows and dark 'fourth piece', those Interlopers can break into the Sacred Realm and claim the whole Triforce!" Nabooru shouted although she still seemed dead-set on getting the Triforce for the Gerudos. _

_Rauru sighed and closed his eyes. "I shall call upon my colleagues, and we will seal them in another realm." Nabooru quirked an eyebrow._

_"What other 'colleagues' do you have other than us?" She asked with hands on her hips. _

_"The light spirits." He replied._

_"Ah," Impa said with a knowing smile. "It seems that you are the head of us and another group of sages." Rauru smiled._

_"I still think the Zora's should get the Triforce of Wisdom." Ruto murmured, causing an onslaught of arguments to ensue. _

"Hey, Link! I know that daydreams are fun and everything, but would it be too much for me to ask you to help get rid of this guy?" Midna's shouting dragged Link out of his reveries. He shook his head. Had he just imagined the whole thing? Midna's 'hand' was holding back a bulky fist of Dark Link's. Wolf Link growled and jumped at Dark Link's neck while Midna held off his one hand.

He clung onto the neck with his claws while biting at it as many times as he could before Dark Link knocked him off. Midna wiped the sweat from her brow as she watched Dark Link slowly realized that he was injured. "Boy, his size grew, but his brain didn't." Even if Dark Link's brain hadn't grown, his sword sure had. Midna had one hell of a time getting her and Link away from the blade.

Dark Link pounded the ground with his fists when he realized he hadn't gotten a single scratch on the small wolf and imp. Midna's ponytail flew over her head and pierced his injured shoulder, but it seemed to have no effect. Dark Link pulled her ponytail out of his shoulder and threw Midna away as if she were a fly. Wolf Link growled and went for Dark Link's throat again, but he was knocked back into a wall.

Dark Link inched toward him with a sadistic smile upon his face. "Want doggie for dinner." Apparently, for Dark Link to gain power and height, he had to decrease his brain size and vocabulary. Wolf Link growled weakly as he tried to get up, but the world kept spinning.

"Move, you idiot!" Midna yelled at him from across the clearing. She rubbed her head and tried to move but to no avail. Annoyingly enough, her ponytail was lodged into the wall.

The giant hand was nearing Link who only found himself able to growl weakly at the large figure, but something great happened.

Dark Link began to moan loudly and clutch at his throat. There was a black light shining in his hand, but it was slowly disappearing, and his throat was beginning to gush blood that flowed out of it like a river. The smell of it overwhelmed Wolf Link's senses and caused him to keel over. The moan slowly became emptier and emptier like he was running out of air. Then, he fell onto the ground, causing it to shake a little, and disappeared in a puff of black smoke.

Midna finally freed her ponytail and flew over to Wolf Link. "Hold on, Link, I'll make you human in no time." She pushed Zant's magic against his fur, but nothing happened. The princess pulled it back and blinked. She recalled Dark Link cursing Farore, the Goddess who left behind the Triforce of Courage... "I guess we need Zelda. Alright, Link, get up. Let's go." The blood around them began to seep into the ground, but it remained on Link. He growled unpleasantly and slowly forced himself. "Sucks to have sharpened senses, huh?" She joked softly as he disappeared into Twilight. _'Guess you have to let your friends know the truth about you. Sorry,'_

**xxxxxx**

Zelda shook her head at the Triforce book. All speculation, that's what it was. It made no sense at all, anyway. She closed it for about the tenth time and grabbed for a new book. Her hand froze in mid-grab as screams sounded in the city and carried over the water. Curiously enough, the hand grabbing for a new book began to glow, or at least the Triforce symbol did. "Link, Midna, what did you two get yourselves into now?" She murmured to herself as she dove into the water and swam back to the village.

She had figured that something terrible had occurred, but there was nothing of the sort there when Zelda pulled herself out of the water. The children were hiding behind their parents and Rusl was brandishing his sword at a wolf with an imp atop him... Link and Midna...!

"Get back you terrible beasts!" Rusl growled at them. "You have taken these children once but not again! We _will_ have peace!" Link simply stood there, taking it. His body was caked in dry blood, obviously not helping his case.

"Wait!" Zelda was surprised at the authority in her tone. Everyone stared at her, surprised.

"Princess! These beasts are responsible to the fate that befell your Kingdom during the Twilight Invasion and the current events right now...!" Jaggle tried to say, but she silenced him with a hand.

"These two are not our enemies; Nor are they beasts." Zelda walked over to Link and Midna, ignoring the gasps of the villagers. She bent down beside them. "What happened?" She asked Midna who smiled with relief.

"Dark Link mutated." She replied. "I'll explain later, but he was about to kill Link and the Triforce started to glow..." Zelda nodded, cutting Midna off. She needed to hear no more. She signaled for Midna to get off of Link, which she did. The hylian princess held out her hand with the Triforce and squeezed her eyes shut. A light fell over Wolf Link, forcing him to transform back into a human. Link blinked and sat back on the ground, examining his hands.

"Thanks," He said to Zelda, then looked back at his friends. Uli looked horrified, Pergie looked like she was about to scream, and Beth _did_ scream. Loudly.

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**A/N: Okay, I'm cutting it off there. Now, I understand this chapter was really confusing. I kinda wrote the part with the sages in a haze. Anyway, Wolf Link kinda starts off imagining he's seeing Saria's ghost (because they're in the 'Lost Woods' after all), who kind of gives him an insight to what's going on exactly with Dark Link. The six of them were six of the seven sages in OoT. The meeting was obviously taking place during the Civil War where everyone wanted the Triforce. That was also the time that the Dark Interlopers were banished to the Twilight Realm. Kinda odd, I know, especially since I added the part with the 'fourth triforce'. Sorry. xD Read and review and try not to yell at me for rephrashing things from the older Zelda games. Thank you. xD**

**Once again, credit goes to The-Lesser-of-two-Goods for including the fourth Triforce piece with the twili and whatnot. ;D**


	11. The Last Good Night

A/N: I am sorry for last chapter being confusing. Seriously. Anyway, I guess that I'm really going to focus my energy into this story this summer while I am home now that I have my other bird back. Hah. Good for me, though, I can focus my energy on something other than their chirping.

So, thank you everyone for your reviews. I really appreciate them; I'm actually surprised anyone likes this story, but that's good for me. xD

**_Disclaimer-If I owned Legend of Zelda, I'd be rich-ish. I wanna help design the games someday, though. :D_**

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Link winced at Beth's scream. While he had been expecting something like that, he wished that Midna had never brought him into the village and Zelda never changed him back. What was worst of all was seeing the accusation in Ilia and Colin's eyes. He had paraded around Kakariko village as a wolf before, and the both of them hadn't run, just watched. "How... could you never say anything?" Ilia said, slowly, as she found her voice. "You always told me that you said all that you needed to say about your adventure, and you... lied. You lied to me!" She yelled at him with her fists clenched. "I can't even look at you the same!" Ilia's lips were trembling and angry tears were threatening to fall, so she ran out of the village, no doubt for the spring.  


He winced even more as the adults stared at him. "You were the beast roaming throughout the village before?" Rusl asked quietly as he dropped his sword arm to his side.

"Did you help kidnap the children, too, Link?" Sera asked in a dry voice.

"No, no!" Zelda pleaded to the best of her ability. "Please, you don't understand! Link's transformation into a wolf was a gift from the Goddess Farore. It allowed Link to survive in the Twilight!"

"Are you sure, Princess?" Rusl asked, darkly. Link stood up, slowly. How could this really be happening? "Maybe he helped the dark creatures with their deeds and then made himself look like a hero."

Fado, the herder, shifted his attention to the little imp that was transforming back into the real Midna. "And that princess! She's a twili! The twili are the ones who started things up in the first place." Jaggle nodded enthusiastically.

"No!" Zelda shouted again as Jaggle picked up a torch, and Rusl got his sword. "They helped me! They helped the kingdom! You all know Link better than anyone else, and you know that he has a kind nature." Her body was beginning to shake with anger. "He is an orphan with no other family aside from all of you! You have known him for a very long time and now you are second guessing him because of this? This is a blessed and cursed gift from the Goddesses!" She continued her rant as she held out her hand with the still glowing Triforce. "It has cursed many Zeldas and Links in the past and you're allowing it to curse this Link by shunning and not believing him! Midna is a good person even if she is a twili! She did not make the decisions that her ancestors made." The princess ended firmly, her hands balled into fists. Link was surprised, but no where near as surprised as Midna who had just fought with Zelda earlier.

"Pr-Princess... You don't have to say that..." Midna murmured as she stared at the dirt. Zelda shook her head.

"It's true. Besides, you are my friend, Midna; I know better than anyone else that you're a _good person_."

"Perhaps," Sera spoke once again in a dry voice, "the Princess is as questionable as the beast and the Twilight Princess."

Beth, Talo, and Malo watched the scene unfold with shock. Rusl closed in on Zelda, Link, and Midna. "Leave, now! Our village will not be tainted by any of you!" He roared as Jaggle brandished his torch for a good effect. Link and Zelda stared at the villagers in shock, and it took all of Midna's strength to pull them out of the village.

"Bo! Go after your daughter before they get her!" They could hear Rusl shout as they slunk out of the village. When they were on the outskirts, Link decided that they should go into his house for a while and think.

"You don't think they'll burn down your house, do you?" An earnest Zelda asked as they entered the house. Link shook his head.

"I'd hope that even they aren't that cruel." He murmured, still trying to get ahold on what had just happened. They had called him a beast. He _had_ been blessed with these powers by Farore, and he thanked her for them, no matter what. "There's something I should tell you two. I don't totally understand it, but maybe you guys will." Zelda and Midna exchanged confused looks before turning their full attention to Link as he retold what he had 'seen' with the six sages.

"You saw Saria's spirit?" Zelda asked in awe. **(A/N: I'll be honest: I love Saria. xD I had to include her in some way.) **Link rubbed the back of his head.

"I guess so?" Midna turned to Zelda with a perplexed expression.

"Hold on, hold on... I thought the Temple of Time was right next to Hyrule Castle? At least, it used to be." She corrected herself. Zelda nodded.

"Yeah. Well, kind of. The hero of Time came back from the future and warned the Royal Family about Ganondorf's planned assassination of the King, which explains why the Sages already knew about Ganondorf's evil, future plans." Midna interrupted.

"Wait. You lost me. What?" Link proceeded to explain to her the Imprisoning War and Civil War. Midna nodded. "Continue, Zelda." **(A/N: /laziness )**

"So, it's not really known what happened. Some say the sages moved the Temple of Time into the Lost Woods so no one could get into the Sacred Realm. Others say that once Ganondorf was sent to the Twilight Realm by the Sages that there was no real need for the Master Sword, so the temple fell into disrepair and Faron Woods grew over it. Some just say that after the planned assassination, the King decided to separate the link to Sacred Realm and the Castle by moving the Castle where it stands today." Zelda stated but shrugged her shoulders. "No one really knows for sure.

"Anyway, Midna, do you know anything about the Twilight Gods making the middle piece of the Triforce?" Zelda asked. Link was surprised that the girls were on good terms already. Then again, he knew better than to try to understand women.

Midna played with her hair as she thought back on it. Her expression suddenly fell, and she glared at Link, who was taken aback. "What did I do?" Link asked with two hands raised in surrender.

"Link, I'm surprised the scent isn't making _you_ sick." She remarked dryly as she wrinkled her nose. "Anyway, my sense of smell is more heightened than that of a regular human's, so the fact that you're sitting next to me with all that blood on you is making me nauseous." Link blinked and looked down at his tunic. It was, sure enough, still caked in blood.

"Go clean yourself up, Link; Midna and I will try to figure this out in the meantime." Zelda said, wrinkling her nose a little, too. "Even I can smell it a little." Link threw his arms in the air and made for the door.

He glanced back once he placed his hand on the doorknob. "Just try not to fight while I'm gone."

"Try not to get burned at the stakes while you're out." Midna cackled as he left the house. She turned her attention back to Zelda. "So, the middle Triforce piece... It's weird because my family never talked about it. At least, not that I can really remember... Let me see...

"When I was little, my mother used to tell me a story about how a 'perfect world' was created. She said that Din, Nayru, and Farore created Hyrule for the Hylians while the Gods of Twilight made their world suitable for the twili, who I guess I should call the 'Dark Interlopers'. The 'twili' of that time were so happy that the Gods had blessed them in such a way, but they were afraid that a time would come where they would need them, and they'd be gone. To more or less ease the fears of their people, the Gods met with the Hylians' Goddesses to talk things over, but things didn't exactly work out.

"Farore, Nayru, and Din left behind the perfect balance of three traits, but the Gods of Twilight felt that they had been given the short end of the straw. The Twilight Gods could no longer remain in Hyrule, however, as so much life was beginning to form, so, out of anger, hurt, and resentment, they created the middle piece that was powerful over the other three. The details get fuzzy after that, but the story is that the Gods of Twilight all felt so differently over the situation with Farore, Nayru, and Din that different feelings got mixed into the one piece of Triforce, making it appear as a piece of nothing which is why the 'twili' didn't mind carrying around the Triforce symbol for a while; After all, their symbol _was there_. It was nothing, as it should have been." Midna yawned and stretched her arms over her head. "You know the story from there, Zelda. Well, kind of."

Zelda nodded, thoughtfully. "Then the dark interlopers seized their piece of the Triforce from the last area the Twilight Gods had been and went after the Triforce, which they believed was rightfully theirs. Then again, every race thought the Triforce was rightfully theirs during that time period..." She mused for a minute. "The Triforce was on the Hylian Shield following the Civil War as was the last bit of Triforce: The Triforce of the Twili. So, your ancestors used the Fused Shadows and their Triforce piece?" Midna nodded in response.

"I guess so. And then, as Link said, the first sage, Rauru, along with the other five sages _and_ the Ancient sages prayed to Farore, Nayru, and Din who banished the 'dark interlopers' to the Twilight Realm." She murmured with the shake of her head. "Things were crazy back then, huh? It's hard to believe that it was Ganondorf who helped out the Royal Family, only for his own gain, of course." Zelda put her fingers to her temple.

"If I try to understand the time period of the Imprisoning War and Civil War any longer, I think my head might explode." She murmured, and looked up when Midna stood up suddenly.

"That's right!" The twili shouted. "I hit my head so hard that I almost forgot... Something Dark Link said... Very unnerving... What was it...?" Midna blinked her red eyes and whirled to face Zelda, frightening the other princess. "Zelda! We have to return to the Twilight Realm!"

Princess Zelda stared at her with a guarded expression. "Why...? Midna, you don't have enough power to teleport us all there, let alone yourself..." Midna's hand twitched a little.

"Zelda, you're Princess of Hyrule and bearer of the Triforce of Wisdom! Perhaps you could pray to Din, Farore, and Nayru...? It's true that I am the rightful leader of the Twili, but I cannot undo what I did to the mirror. Zelda, you must!" Zelda smiled sadly at her friend.

"Even if I prayed and they listened, I'm sure that Din would put in her ten cents about us needing to work collaboratively with Ganondorf... Perhaps I can pray to Nayru and see what entails?" Zelda's voice dropped to a whisper as she began to talk to herself. Then, she nodded at Midna and smiled. "I'll do my best, okay?" Midna nodded and returned the smile rather sheepishly.

"That's all I ask."

**xxxxxx**

On his way to the spring, Link prayed for Ilia to not be there and for Ilia to be there. He had to explain, somehow. It was still so difficult for him to grasp the fact that he had just been shunned by the people he had known for as long as he could remember... He paused in the gateway and stared at her. She was so beautiful, even when she was sad. Ilia was fumbling with a bit of horse grass from where she sat on the ground with her feet dipped in the spring. The fairies were flying around her, and Link could make out the Great Fairy looking at her.

He couldn't decide if he should just go to the next spring or announce his presence. Link decided that he'd rather face Ganondorf for the rest of his life than have to see that betrayed look on Ilia's face again. Finally, he made up his mind and cleared his throat. Ilia jumped up, startled. The Great Fairy took a look at Link, now, and cringed at the sight of him. She snapped and the blood caked on his tunic, skin, and hair disappeared. Then, she winked and also disappeared.

"I-Ilia..." Link murmured, taking one small step inside of the spring. They'd played in this spring for as long as he could remember... To his surprise, she didn't move, just stared. She was gazing at him like she was just seeing him for the first time. "I don't bite, I promise..." Her expressionless mouth suddenly snapped into a thin line of disapproval. He realized that she wasn't going to say anything, so he gave a small wave and backed out of the spring.

"Wait." Her voice was just as firm as the line her mouth was set in. "Link... how could you lie like this? If you had said something sooner, then no one would have accused you of anything." Obviously Ilia hadn't run to the spring right away. Link forced his eyes to stare at the moon's reflection on the azure water.

"It wouldn't have changed anything. By the time I first came to the village after you guys were kidnaped, they had made up their minds." He replied in a surprisingly matter-of-fact tone. Ilia made a small sound that sounded like a dry laugh, causing Link to stare at her. She wiped the tears out of her eyes.

"You are such a fool," She whispered more to herself than to him. "If you had told _me_ when I asked if anything else happened, then we might have been able to prevent this. We could have explained it to them all. _Together_." Link's eyes wavered a little, but he would not show it.

"This wouldn't have happened had I not been so _stupid_!" He suddenly shouted, turning away from his childhood friend. "None of this!"

"Link..." Ilia took a few steps forward and put a hand on his shoulder. "Don't do this to yourself; It isn't your fault..." Her words were so genuine that he dropped his guard. She was right. She _was_ right. He blinked and turned around.

"Are you afraid of me? Do you trust me?" He demanded, putting his hands on her shoulders. She shook her head at the first question and nodded at the second.

"I _know_ that the only thing you did last time was save Hyrule and the Twilight realm." Ilia inhaled sharply and dropped her eyes to the sand. "...And fall in love." She added, softly, but he caught it. She looked back at him and took in his surprised expression. "Oh, I know that you've always known, Link. I've loved you for forever. What I don't know is who you love exactly; You can't have them both." Link was, in a word, shocked. He didn't know what to say...

She smiled at him and cupped his cheek with her hand. "Just promise me, Link, that you'll stay safe and defeat whatever started all of this up again, okay? Promise you'll come back at least once, just so I know that you lived..." Link's smile came slowly, and then he fumbled in his pockets for something. Finally, he pulled out a pearl and put it in Ilia's hand; She stared at it in shock.

"No matter what happens, I'll always be with you." He said with a small, sad smile. "I found that pearl during my last adventure in the temple below Lake Hylia. You're the best owner for it." Link added with a nod before he enveloped her in a hug. Ilia blinked back tears.

"I'll... wait for you." She breathed into his shoulder as she closed her hand around the pearl and wrapped her arms around him. Ilia felt Link release her and pull away. She quickly wiped away her tears to get one last look at him standing there in the gateway; Link always had stood there when she was the first to the spring. He gave her a small wave before pulling out of her vision.

Ilia sank to her knees in the water and picked up a bit of horse grass. "No matter what, Link, I'll always be waiting for you." She whispered to herself as she felt the smooth leaves of the grass.

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**A/N: I know, the villagers acted very out of character but there IS an OOC warning in the main summary of the story. Very short, but I liked this chapter. xD I wanted it to remain mostly sweet. Well, at least, the stuff with Ilia. Kinda sad, right? D: Yes, fluff, I know, I didn't give a warning... Kinda hard to believe I wrote the nice stuff with The Things He Carried playing, right? xD; Next chapter, they're leaving Ordon, I promise!**


	12. The Enemy of My Enemy is My Friend?

**A/N: Due to the events in this chapter, I may have to go back and do some editing in old chapters. Oh, joy. xD**

**Lolz, I simply love all of these reviews "demanding" different pairings. xD All I can say for now is that there is probably no LinkxIlia. Probably. xDDD; -Ducks as various tomatoes and knives are thrown- Eep!**

**Actually, I think my favorite reviews are from Lesser and Silver... xDD;  


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Link walked inside of his house with a heavy heart, and it showed. Midna raised both eyebrows when he walked in. "You smell like cherry blossoms in the summertime. Did you the Great Fairy fix you up?" She asked with a sneer. Link ignored her comment, causing Midna to frown. "Did you leave your sense of humor with Ordona?" He simply shrugged.

"Where's Zelda?" He asked, sounding mostly uninterested; Midna rolled her eyes.

"She's trying to contact Nayru." When Link stared at her like she was mad, Midna explained what she and Zelda had talked about. Her eyes dropped down to the symbol on his hand. "I think it worked!" She said with a wide grin but suddenly found herself standing alone. "Link?'

**xxxxxx**

"Hero of the Light and Twilight," A soft, high voice that sounded like the whistling of the wind spoke to him. Link opened his eyes and stared at his left hand; The Triforce of Courage was flashing nonstop. Then, he got a good look of the area he was in: It looked like a forest in the sky. There was also a tall woman standing before him.

She was so beautiful that she didn't look real. Her skin was a bright, creamy gold, and she couldn't have been much older than twenty or so. Her eyes were bright and the color of forest. Link could hardly believe that this woman would grace him with her presence. Her hair was long, wispy, and looked windblown; The forest green color perfectly matched her eyes. He swallowed hard and continued to stare at her with a dumbfounded expression.

She giggled, and he was reminded once again of the wind. "Hero, I am Farore, Goddess of Courage, who has blessed you with your power." Link's sky blue eyes widened and dropped to his left hand; That explained the flashing. "Link, what lies ahead is a dangerous, jagged path that even we have not liked dealing with." When she said 'we', she must have meant her sisters as well. "Never before have the bearers of the Triforce had to deal with the 'last piece' left by the Gods of the Twilight. Well, except Ganondorf, I suppose," Farore added thoughtfully. His heart clenched at the name, and his hands automatically went into fists.

Farore laughed again, no doubt hearing the thoughts in Link's head. "Ah, yes. Ganondorf, bearer of the Triforce of Power. I do not blame you for detesting that name; My sisters and I are also very... disappointed in him. I suppose that is the chance you take when you leave behind a magical artifact that cannot tell the difference between evil and good." She laughed shortly, almost bitterly. "I must remember to thank Nayru for that wonderful idea some time. But that is beside the point." Link smiled at her. For a goddess, Farore seemed awfully... real; Down to earth. "Link, my sister, Din, along with Nayru and I decided to revive Ganondorf." He couldn't hide his surprise, and a bit of anger shot through him.

"_What_? Goddess Farore," He wasn't exactly how to refer to her, but that seemed the best way, "The man is evil! He is responsible for many, many deaths and shattered lives!" Link protested. He blinked, embarrassed. Had he just shouted at the Goddess who had granted him his power? Much to his surprise, Farore laughed genuinely again.

"I understand, Link," She answered him in a soft voice. "However, for this terrible path that lies ahead, you _need_ him." Link was shocked into silence. "The evil piece of triforce is, as you have heard, in the possession of a twili who still remains in Twilight Realm. Actually, it lies in the hands of quite the twisted twili, and the only way to defeat it is to create the all powerful triangle of the triforce; That can only be done with the combined powers of yourself, Ganondorf, and Princess Zelda."

"But, if it's another twili, can't Midna just take the piece back? She _is_ the Twilight Princess." Link protested, but Farore shook her head.

"When Ganondorf destroyed Midna's helmet, the one piece of the Fused Shadow that she always wore, he destroyed her chance of being able to tap into a power that would still pale in comparison to the Dark Piece. After all, the Fused Shadows were made by magicians while the Dark Piece was made by Gods." She answered, patiently.

Link blinked. He would have to fight _with _Ganondorf? Oh, hell. "What has happened to Hyrule? Ganondorf has done something; He hinted that himself. Has Din spoken to _him_ yet?" Farore smiled.

"The only thing Ganondorf did was force King Bulbin to attack your village, Hyrule Castle, and the people of Castle Town; Even they aren't listening to him anymore, part of the reason being that he allowed their leader to perish by your sword." He was interested, now.

"What's the other part?"

"There are two twili working together; The one in the Twilight Realm is calling the shots, but the one here is having all hell break loose." She replied, her smile fading off her face. "Together, the twili have killed many people and seized control of a lot of land. Here is where Midna can help you, but, ironically enough, she cannot help in her own realm."

"So..." Link murmured, relaxing a little in Farore's presence now, "What exactly is happening to the Kingdom of Hyrule?"

Farore sighed. "A war of sorts... and that is why my sister has decided not to allow us to repair the Mirror of Twilight yet." Link's eyes looked like they might pop out of his head.

"_**What?!**_"

"It was a request from Princess Zelda as well as Princess Midna." She said with a small nod. "They are... a bit ahead of you in this game, no?" Farore asked, her smile slowly returning. Link's cheeks became a light pink. "I have told you what to do, Link, and now you must do it!" She moved her middle and thumb fingers toward each other in a snapping position, so Link quickly spoke,

"Why can't you step in and take care of the twili?" He asked; Farore laughed softly.

"For one, we only step in when there is no one in position to do anything about it; We didn't even help in the Imprisoning War. Also, as Goddesses of Hyrule, we cannot go anywhere aside from this heaven and Hyrule. Technically." She added in a sly way that made Link question her just a little. "Goodbye, Hero of Light and Twilight! Do not let us down!" With that, she snapped her fingers, and he disappeared from the beautiful forest in the sky.

**xxxxxx**

The full moon was shining brightly from where it hung in the night sky as Midna, Link, and Zelda made their way out of the Ordona Province. Link could only imagine what the villagers, his old friends, were thinking at the moment; They probably figured he was going to transform into a wolf, howl at the moon, and slaughter them all. Epona was galloping at a normal speed with Link and Zelda atop her; Midna was in her imp form, hiding in Link's shadow so that she wouldn't have to glide at a super fast speed to keep up. Link gave the Ordon Spring one last glance as they left the area; Ilia was gone, and the Great Fairy waved goodbye to him.

"You spoke to Nayru and I spoke to Farore... does that mean that Ganondorf was speaking to Din?" Link asked with an edge in his voice; He resented having to work with Ganondorf and especially resented the fact that _he_ would probably have to ask, or beg, Ganondorf to help them.

"Perhaps Din put some sense into Ganondorf's thick skull?" Zelda suggested as they passed Coro's shack. Link chuckled softly.

"We can only pray." He thought back to Midna's reaction when he told her that she had to help them before they could help her. She had become instantly angry at the Goddesses, Ganondorf, and a twili named Ira.

"I never should have left with him so power hungry! That was so dumb of me!" She had yelled while they were still in his house. "Now he's roaming the Twilight Realm doing Gods know what with that 'Dark Piece' with his little lackey friend here in the light world! They probably killed Adel! Oh, Gods, there _will_ be hell when I return there, I promise!" Once she had calmed down, she had explained all about Ira.

"Maybe you shouldn't have treated him like an underling, Midna." Link had lightly suggested, instantly firing her up again.

"I treat all scum like underlings, and he _is _definite scum!"

Now, Link and Zelda were riding through Hyrule Field toward the El**din **Province in hopes of finding Ganondorf and checking on Renado and Luda. Zelda continuously fired her light arrows as many different creatures rose out of the ground. Stalkin (which Link had never seen outside of Hyrule Castle's graveyard and Arbiter's Grounds) rose out of the ground in huge numbers, and Link had just refrained to having Epona crush them as she galloped. Not far behind the Stalkin were, annoyingly enough, Stalhounds and Stalfos themselves; A whole lot of them.

Epona stopped galloping suddenly, reared, and flailed her front legs in the air, neighing painfully. Two Stalhounds had both bitten into either one of her back legs, and now even more were jumping up at them. Link blocked the jumping ones while Zelda destroyed the ones biting Epona, and Midna jumped out of Link's shadow. "I think a fight's going to be unavoidable now, Link." The twilight princess remarked to him as all of the skeletal figures surrounded them, but they weren't alone.

From every corner of Hyrule field, it appeared that monsters of all diversities were rushing forward to attack Link, Midna, and Zelda. Bulbins both atop Bulbos and on foot rushed toward them with murder in their eyes. Bokoblins, both purple and pink, rushed with their machetes raised. Guays, Kargarocs, Keese, and Shadow Kargarocs were swooping toward them. Midna's mouth fell open as the Shadow Kargarocs were joined by the large Twilight Beasts. "Oh, no..."

Zelda glared daggers at Link and Midna. "We can't fight them! There are _way_ too many!" They both nodded, slowly. "Midna, do something!" Midna shook out of her reverie and snapped; She, Epona, Link, and Zelda disappeared as bits of twilight into the night sky.

**xxxxxx**

"Why couldn't you have done this sooner?" Link asked Midna when they appeared right in front of Eldin's spring a few seconds later.

"At least we know we have a welcoming committee waiting for us next time we head into the field." said Midna with a grin. Somewhere in the village, a strange guttural noise was uttered and carried through the night's air. She blinked and looked around. "Better watch out; I recognize that noise..." Link nodded. It was the sound of a Bulbin (most likely an archer) giving orders to another Bulbin. He raised his shield and looked around.

"I know it's late, but I don't even see a Goron out here..." Link murmured, worry instantly filling him. "Midna, Zelda, why don't you go check out the Shaman's house? I'll... skulk around here." Midna stared at him meaningfully and pulled out the black crystal.

"Would you like to do so as a wolf?" She asked as she threw it up and down in her hand. Link watched as Zelda transformed into Sheik in a puff of smoke. "Yeah, it could be easier that way." Midna touched Link with just the tip, and his body instantly forced itself back into the form of a beast. "Funny how that works." remarked Midna before shrugging and signaling to Sheik. "Let's go, Sheikah!"

**xxxxxx**

"Renado?" Sheik called in a timid voice which made an awkward contrast with his deep voice. **(A/N: At least she isn't knocking Link off his horse this time and crying, no? ;D) **The hut, although Zelda had never been in there before, was suspiciously dark. "Is it always like this?" Sheik called to Midna, who seemed to be examining the area. She shook her head and then stared at the middle of the room.

"Of course!" Midna cried, almost wanting to smack her forehead in the process. "Zelda, can you use fire magic to light that pot?"

"Sheik." The Sheikah corrected her as she transformed out of Sheikah disease to light the pot on fire. She then retransformed as Midna grabbed a stick off the ground and ran around the house, lighting all of the torches. Much to Sheik's surprise, the statue in the center of the room moved to reveal a cellar. "How did you...?"

"When Eldin was covered in Twilight, the little girl said that was the way to open the cellar." replied Midna before she jumped down the hole. Sheik, still bewildered, followed the twili.

Midna gracefully landed on her feet while Sheik fell onto all fours. The twili surveyed her with a wild grin. "Did you do that on purpose or is the Sheikah in you making you do this?" She snickered. Sheik waved her off.

"What are we looking for?" He asked, looking around. Midna rolled her eyes.

"The shaman and his daughter." She replied matter-of-factly. Sheik shrugged his shoulder sheepishly.

"It doesn't look like anyone's been down here in a long time..."

Midna frowned because she knew he was right. "The torches weren't lit and the cellar was covered. Surely they were hiding down here?"

"If they were, they would have been trapped." Sheik, who was at the other end of the cellar, stated. The only way out seemed to be blocked by something above. "They could have gotten out through the other end, but the statue blocked it."

"Huh. Maybe they got trapped down here and died?" Midna suggested, immediately getting scolded by Sheik. "Anyway, there's nothing down here, so..." She turned around and headed for their only way out, but then the statue went back over the covering. "What the? I demand an explanation for this!" shouted Midna, climbing up the net, and pounding on the base of the statue.

Sheik followed her, but stopped in his tracks when he heard the quiet shuffling of feet; He probably would have missed it had it not been for his heightened hearing. An arrow fired out of nowhere, taking off a piece of the cloth on his arm and pinning it to the wall. "Show yourself!" demanded Sheik as he gathered a bunch of needles in his hand. The owl statue at the opposite end of the room fell down and a bunch of archers began to fire at Sheik, who disappeared in a puff of smoke.

Midna jumped as Sheik appeared behind her. "Don't _do _that!" She yelled at the ninja-like Sheikah. Her eyes trailed over to the Bulbins who couldn't seem to figure out where Sheik had gone. "How the hell did they get behind the statue? It takes the Dominion Rod..."

"It seems that the laws of our world are no longer in play." remarked Sheik as a Shadow Beast spotted them. A dark energy ball began to appear in Midna's hands, but she couldn't bear to release it on one of her own. "Do you really think it's another twili? How could that be, only one person had that power..."

Midna scowled. "It seems like there _are_ no laws or rules anymore." She said before releasing the ball, killing the beast instantly. There were at least ten Bulbins facing them now as their leader pointed them out; They were all armed with bows with arrows pointed at the vital areas of their enemies... Then, one by one, they fell to the ground and disappeared in puffs of smoke.

Had Sheik not been suspicious before, he was really suspicious now. "What's going on here?" He demanded, releasing the needles in the air; The needles fell short of armored, black boots.

"What? No 'thank you'?" A deep, male voice asked them.

**xxxxxx**

Wolf Link almost felt as if twilight had fallen over Kakariko Village again, for the village was completely empty and quiet. At least, the only noise was the growling of the Bulbins that were situated atop buildings. No Gorons, no people, and no scents; Things were getting oddly suspicious. Link crawled underneath buildings and went out of his way to stay out of the Bulbins' fields of vision.

His tail began to wag when he reached the other side of the town and picked up the scent of Telma. Without really meaning to, he let out an excited bark, causing the Bulbins to finally notice him and fire at him. Link knew there was no way to follow Telma's scent up Death Mountain. He couldn't climb the mountain as a wolf, after all, so he ran through the village, avoiding arrows, and entered the graveyard. Automatically, Link began to growl.

Ganondorf was sitting atop one of the larger graves, surveying Midna and Sheik with a sadistic expression. "Ah, the mongrel has decided to join us, eh?" He said enthusiastically as Link stepped into view. The fur on his back was standing on end, and he was bearing his teeth.

"Relax, Link, he hasn't done anything," Midna said before shifting her eyes back to Ganondorf, "yet." Ganondorf boomed with laughter.

"Ah, how suspicious you are. I suppose you would be after having your throne taken from you. Twice." He put an extra emphasis on the last word, causing Midna to unpleasantly bare her teeth at him, too. "I see that the only one here who is not planning to kill me is the Princess who has many reasons to hate me."

"Oh, I do." Sheik replied without expression. "I simply see that it is best for us to work together. For now." He emphasized the phrase for a good effect. Once again, Ganondorf chuckled.

"It's eerie staring at you while you look like that, Princess," He remarked offhandedly as he examined his own nails to appear uninterested. "I keep waiting for you to pull some childish move or seal me away in the Sacred Realm." Sheik's hands balled into fists, but he tried not to listen to the words.

"Let us _try_ to be civil, even if it is impossible for some of us." Sheik spat at the Gerudo tyrant as Midna exposed Link to the crystal. **(A/N: ;D Teehee.)**

"This way, if he pulls something, you can kill him with the Master Sword." She whispered in his ear before he transformed into a human again.

Link chuckled. "Too bad that would probably majorly piss off the Goddesses." He remarked with a grin.

"Have _you_ spoken to Din?" asked Sheik with arms folded over his chest. Unsurprisingly enough, Ganondorf nodded.

"Yes. I told her that if she thinks I'm going to help you out, then she is sorely mistaken." Sheik frowned. No one ever said this was going to be easier.

"Ganondorf, if you work with us now to get rid of whatever wants to take over this realm, then you can fight us later." replied Link through gritted teeth. "And trust me, no one would like to destroy you more than I."

Ganondorf went back to staring at his black nails. "Oh, but I've already spoken to the twili who is controlling things here." Midna, Link, and Sheik felt their hearts drop into their guts.

"Oh?" asked Midna, trying to sound uninterested. "And?"

"Well," The Gerudo man paused to take in the badly hidden horrified expressions. "Offer me something... more... and I will consider it." Bargaining, huh? Sheik and Link both approached Ganondorf with set expressions.

"Alright. If after we defeat this new threat we fight you and lose, then you get the Kingdom." Sheik proposed, ignoring Midna's pleas behind her. Ganondorf quirked an eyebrow.

"Is that it?" He demanded, chuckling. "That's _definitely _not enough. Try again."

Link's hands balled into fists, and he spoke again through gritted teeth. "Not only will you get Hyrule, but you'll also get the Triforces of Wisdom and Power." Ganondorf's eyes widened and his smile stretched maniacally.

"Is that so?" He asked in a soft voice. "Then, I suppose we've got a deal." The ex-King of Gerudos held out his hand, the one with the triforce symbol on it. Reluctantly, Link put out his left hand, also bearing the symbol, and grasped his enemy's hand; He was deeply surprised when he didn't feel any dark magic surge through his skin. Ganondorf was smiling as if he were waiting for Link to attack him. Before he was tempted to do so, Link backed away from Ganondorf and stood beside Midna. Then, Sheik held out his Triforce hand as well. A bit of magic surged through both hands and afflicted the other's, but neither one of them flinched.

"You two are stupid, stupid, stupid!" shouted Midna, elbowing Link's arm. "If you lose against him, then you're screwed." Link shrugged and rubbed his arm.

"Hey, at least we managed to get his mind off of taking over the Twilight Realm."

Midna scowled. "Yeah, but that will only last until he makes a wish on the Triforce!"

Sheik, still standing before Ganondorf, asked, "So, what do you know about our enemy?" Ganondorf's smile stretched across his face.

"Well, this may come as a surprise to you, Twilight whelp," He said, staring at Midna...

**xxxxxx**

"Ira was Zant's colleague? How did I not know that?!" Midna demanded, wanting to shake the answer out of Ganondorf's ancient body. Ganondorf cackled.

"Perhaps you should research your assistants a bit more thoroughly." He suggested boredly. They were still sitting in the Graveyard as it was the safest place to be. A flock of guays had attacked them, but Ganondorf had made easy work of them.

"Ganondorf, I think you should know that I would like nothing more than to kill you." Midna growled sweetly. Ganondorf chuckled again.

"Because that worked oh-so well last time; You don't even have those pathetic Fused Shadows to 'help' you. How many times do I have to say it? Your tribe's petty magic stands not a chance against me!" He said, flashing the triforce symbol for a good effect.

"Will you both shut up?" Sheik asked irritably. "We need to have a plan; Ganondorf, where is this Ira located currently?" The Gerudo shrugged, and Link smacked his forehead.

"Goddesses, you've got to be kidding me." He muttered under his breath. Sheik tried again.

"Do you know who the twili with the Dark Piece is?" Once again, Ganondorf shrugged. Midna ran over to the tyrant and raised a hand that was being engulfed with shadow magic; Link grabbed her around the waist and pulled her back. "You at least know what has happened to the other provinces!" Sheik finally jumped up and shouted out of pure annoyance.

"Your guess is as good as mine." Ganondorf cooly replied as he played with the bones of a long dead guay.

"Forget him for now, I have a lead." Link said, releasing Midna and turning to face Sheik. "I picked up Telma's scent near the Death Mountain trail. We might find them up there." Midna nodded enthusiastically.

"Finally, a lead!" She said, jumping up. "Alright, Ganondorf, I guess you can tag along; Just try not to slow us down." Ganondorf chuckled as he stood up.

"Of course, Princess." Link turned to glare at him.

"One more thing: While you're with us, Ganondorf, you will fight _with _us. If you attack any one of us, even if it's an 'accident', I'll kill you."

Ganondorf grinned. "Whatever you say."

* * *

**A/N: Muahahah. A temporary alliance! How temporary? No one knows. ;D Not even me. xD So, I used the terms for a lot of monsters, but I figured that if you don't know what they are, then I'd put them down here:**

**-Guays: The small crow things that tend to attack in huge groups; There were a lot in the Kakariko graveyard.**

**-Stalhounds: Obviously the little skeletal dogs that only come out at night and attack in packs.**

**-Kargarocs: Those huge birds that attack you when you least expect it and follow you until you've left the area. The shadow ones have the 'twilight' added before their names and they have weird shaped heads that make trumpet noises.**

**-Keese: ...Bats.**

**-Twilight Beasts: ...xDD Oh, come on.**

**-Stalkin: The little skeletons with spears.**

**-Stalfos: Please don't make me say it.**

**That about covers it, I think. So, please review even if you're anonymous! I except anonymous reviews! :3 See you next chapter. **


	13. Truth and Death

**A/N: Thank Lesser for the super-fast update. xD I have decided the pairings already, by the way. ;D I'm not putting 'em up, though. Haha. :P -Ducks as a machete hits the wall- Heh... -Runs- **

**Wow, five reviews for last chapter. Thank you all so much!! Keep up the reviews. :33 (I still super appreciate you, Lesser and Silver!) Oh, and if you were wondering what happened to Adel... you'll find out in this chapter.**

**Disclaimer-I obviously do not own Zelda, otherwise this story would be made into a game.**

The nice thing about Midna being with them was the fact that they could be transported pretty much anywhere in a few seconds flat. Once they warped to the base of Death Mountain, though, they weren't as happy. Bulbins perched on the sides of the mountain, over the balconies, and just about anywhere and everywhere were shooting off fire arrows while the ones with clubs mindlessly ran at them. Midna sent out a minor wave of shadow magic that instantly killed all of the Bulbins on the ground, but the ones shooting arrows were still a problem. Ganondorf, Midna, and Sheik transported themselves to different parts of the area and took out the archers while Link stood in perfect view of said archers and got shot at.

"Any moment you guys want to kill them all off is good with me!" Link shouted at no one in particular as he raised the Hylian shield to block what he could. Midna sent out another minor energy wave that killed a few archers while Sheik shot needles at some and kicked the ones that she teleported behind. Ganondorf stopped to watch Link getting attacked once, but he never did again as the Bulbins shot him with their arrows.

"Unappreciative, mindless weaklings!" Ganondorf roared, catching a fire arrow with his middle and index finger just inches before his face. The black magic he wielded burned through the arrow, and he began to fire off energy balls at all of the Bulbins within his range, which was pretty massive in itself.

"I don't see anyone, Link, are you sure you picked up the bar keeper's scent?" Midna bellowed from one of the higher balconies as she dropped a bulbin to its death. Oddly enough, aside from the massive amount of Bulbins, there was no one else there. Link sent her a quizzical expression since she could not have heard him from down there, but she picked up on what he meant. Once again, she disappeared, and reappeared in the empty spring on the other side of the area. She was surprised not to even find a lazy bulbin general relaxing in there. "Empty."

Ganondorf, Sheik, and Midna reappeared before Midna. "There's not a single Goron in sight. If this isn't suspicious, I don't know what is." The twili remarked bitterly. Link shook his head.

"There's one more place we haven't checked yet: The entrance to the mines. I noticed that the elevator was closed off, so maybe they're all hiding up there?" Midna and Sheik exchanged looks. Well, it was worth a try. Once again, Midna changed her body (and the others) into fragments of twilight and reappeared at the topmost balcony. "It's blocked." Link stated rather stupidly as they stared at the large boulder blocking the door to the entrance. Midna rolled her eyes.

"I'll take care of it." She said, closing her eyes and focusing her energy, but then Ganondorf's hand turned purple and broke the boulder into pieces of rock. Midna scowled at Ganondorf, who bowed and put one hand out. Sheik sighed and entered first.

"That was rather unnecessary." He murmured as he came into the dully lit room. Little Gorons were running around the room, catching the flying bits of rock from the boulder while the older Gorons got into fighting stances.

"Leave, Sheikah! We have already told the twili that we will not help his cause!" The largest and most fearsome Goron yelled. Sheik bit his lip and readied a fighting stance.

"Calm down, they won't attack you." Link put a hand on Sheik's shoulder as he came in next. "You can use your true form here, I think." Sheik blinked and nodded as Link went up to the large Goron who had yelled. The other Gorons, along with the bigger Goron, watched as Sheik transformed into Zelda. Many Gorons gasped "Darbus, it's good to see that you're alright."

"Alright? If there weren't so many rocks in the mines, we would be starving!" He fumed, punching a fist into his hand. "I tried to rip that little twili limb from limb, but it had amazing power..." Midna opened her mouth to speak, but Zelda shushed her. Darbus seemed to want to say something about the Princess, but he resolved not to say anymore.

"Calm down, Darbus," said a much smaller, older Goron that Link recognized as the one he had to sumo wrestle to enter the mines. "It is nice to see you again, Link. We have been wondering when you would arrive."

A smaller Goron tugged on the bottom of Link's tunic. "Hey, mister, is it safe to go outside again?" Link smiled and nodded at the youth who cheered and ran outside; A second later, he ran back inside, wailing. Gor Coron's facial expression tightened.

"We took care of all of the beasts..." Link muttered, unsheathing his sword and heading back outside, only to be pushed back by Ganondorf. Midna groaned.

"Not _all_ of the beasts." Darbus roared angrily and punched his fist into his hand a few times.

"LEAVE NOW, BEAST!" The Goron elder bellowed, causing the ground to shake a little as he moved forward.

"Hold on, hold on!" Link protested while Zelda stood back in mild horror with her hands clasped over her mouth; Midna looked like she might kiss Darbus if he'd do harm to Ganondorf.

Gor Coron turned toward Link accusingly. "You said that you had defeated him and now you bring him here?!" This was Ordon Village all over again.

"If you'll let him speak...!" An angry Midna shouted as she stalked toward Gor Coron.

"Another twili!" Another elder, Gor Liggs, shouted. _'Racism in Hyrule is spreading like wildfire.'_ Zelda thought, nervously. _'Link, do something quickly! Before they make mince meat out of Midna and Ganondorf...'_ She said in Link's mind. At first, he jumped, surprised to hear a voice other than his own in his mind. Then, he grasped the fact that it was the power of the Triforce that allowed them to do so, and he nodded.

"Midna is not just 'another twili', she's princess of the Twilight Realm, and she's trying to help us defeat the two twili responsible for this mess." Link told them in a surprisingly even voice. "And Ganondorf is, for now, helping us to take down the enemy, too."

Gor Coron's eyes widened. "You've made a pact with the devil..." He realized, speaking quietly so that only Link could hear him. Link nodded slightly.

"Basically, yes... but it was the Goddesses that revived him." Link looked around and noticed, for the first time, that there were actual humans in the room.

"Link, honey!" Telma waved from across the room. Link didn't bother to conceal his surprise to see Ashei, Shad, and Auru there as well.

"What...? How did you guys...?" Link tried to say, but he couldn't seem to form a coherent sentence.

"We led the townspeople out of Castle Town, honey," Telma answered for them, but Link couldn't help but notice that there weren't really any other people there. "But we got caught by these Bulbins in the field and we were taken to Kakariko where Renado, Luda, and Barnes," she gestured to them as she spoke, "were also being held prisoner. The monsters there had managed to kill most of the Gorons in the village, and they were about to do the same to us when Darbus saved us and brought us to Death Mountain; We've been hiding here ever since."

"What happened to the other townspeople of Castle Town?" Link asked slowly, hesitantly. Ashei shook her head.

"This is war, Link," She replied in a thick accent. "Some were taken elsewhere while others were slaughtered before our eyes..." Shad wiped his glasses as his eyes filled with tears.

"Even that nice old fortune teller!" He sobbed, hiding his eyes with his arms. "I really did like her!" **(A/N: I don't like Shad. :D Stupid-responsible-for-bad- glitch guy!)** Auru patted Shad on the back lightly.

"There, there." He said, shaking his head a little at the pitiful man. "Princess Zelda," Auru bowed down to her. "How do your studies go?"

Zelda smiled, clearly uncomfortable. "Very well, sir." She murmured. Auru chuckled.

"Obviously so if you can transform into a Sheikah. A trick of your ancestors, am I right?" He asked with a wink. The princess nodded, returning a genuine smile.

"Oh, Link." An airy voice spoke to the left of Link. He turned and found himself staring at none other than the little, bug-obsessed girl, Agitha. "I have to say that I'm quite disappointed about having to leave those bugs behind... We were having quite a nice ball." He nodded and smiled. _'Just nod and smile... Nod and smile.'_ Link told himself. Agitha was a cute little girl, just a little... creepy. Honestly, Link was surprised those bugs had lived so long...

"How many Gorons have been killed?" Ganondorf asked, relaxing against the wall now that he was sure the Gorons weren't planning to kill him any time soon. To kill him now would be going against the Goddess's design; He simply had to remember to thank Din later. He was not really concerned about how many Gorons had died, just curious.

"Twenty-five." Gor Coron replied with looking at him. Perhaps he thought that if he were to look at Ganondorf, he would turn to stone. Maybe he would turn the Goron race to stone once he had the Triforce.

"Out of?" Ganondorf added, raising an eyebrow.

"Forty." Once again, Gor Coron did not look him in the eyes. Ganondorf chuckled softly.

"Roughly sixty-two percent, eh? What a sad day it is for the Gorons..." Darbus began to growl at Ganondorf again, so he quickly fell quiet. As if he could be killed by a Goron.

_"Can you possibly behave?"_ Zelda hissed. Ganondorf looked around; Her voice was so loud that he had figured that she was right beside him, but she was still all the way across the room. She quickly jabbed her hand in the air with the Triforce of Wisdom glowing; He looked down to find his own doing the same.

_"Ah, are we communicating telepathically to prevent the Gorons' feelings from getting hurt? How sly of you, Princess." _Zelda did not miss the man's self-satisfied tone. She almost wanted to tell him to "shove it" but thought better of it.

"Do you know what is going on with the Zoras?" Zelda asked, approaching Gor Coron.

"Little hylian, you do not even know the fate of the race living in your own backyard?" Darbus responded for the Goron elder. Zelda recoiled a little as if he had hit her.

"Darbus!" Gor Coron shouted before facing Zelda with kind eyes. "Listen to him not, child. We have not a clue; There is really no efficient way for us to communicate with each other." He replied apologetically. She nodded, slowly.

"Is there anything we can do for you?" She asked in a small voice. To her surprise, a regular Goron answered her.

"Can you raise the dead, Sister?" He asked, receiving a head shake in response. "Then, no."

"We would be honored to assist you if you need it, Princess." Gor Coron bowed for the full effect. Zelda nodded her head.

"Thank you, but I think you have suffered enough..." She murmured more to herself than anyone else before returning to Link's side. "I believe that there is nothing that we can do here... We have found Ganondorf in this providence, but I think that is all we have to do here."

Link nodded as they walked back to Midna. "Are you up to taking us to Zora's Domain?" She sighed playfully and rolled her eyes.

"I don't know..." Midna murmured, pretending like she really had to consider it. "Ah, you guys are _so_ lucky that I like you." This time, she actually opened a twilight portal on the ground. **(A/N: LOLME for just remembering that she can do that. xD)** Link's eyes dropped open.

"Why didn't you do that sooner?" He asked for what seemed to be the hundredth time since they had come back together. Ganondorf entered the portal first, then Zelda, and Midna waited for Link.

"Wait, Link!" Telma cried, causing the boy to stop in his tracks and turn around. "Please, take care. Try not to push yourself too hard, okay, hon?" He smiled and nodded, then Gor Coron approached him.

"Link, I fear for the Zoras..." He said quietly so only Link could hear him. "I am not questioning the leadership of their new King, Ralis, but... he is young. And I am sure the twili has already visited him... Use all of your power to help or save the Zoras, Link!" Said swordsman nodded as he made his way to the portal and Midna.

_'I just hope it's not too late...'_

**xxxxxx**

They had, as a matter of fact, been too late. Twilight Beasts roamed the throne room like they had a right to be there, and the water was bright red. Link, Midna, and Zelda felt their stomachs clench at the sight.

Aside from the red water, there were bodies of Zoras strewn throughout the room. Some bodies were missing heads which were being batted around the room, too, by the twilight beasts. Actually, most of the bodies were missing some sort of limb. Some of the bodies were still bleeding, others sitting in pools of blood. Ganondorf kicked a nearby body out of the way as he made his way to the throne.

Sitting in the chair was a blue-skinned creature, but it was most definitely not Ralis; Ralis' body lay beside the throne. Ganondorf noticed that the boy was still alive, if just barely. The creature was obviously female and had long, jet black hair with multiple tribal markings running along her skin. She had bright, golden eyes and a vivacious smile that showed her canines. Her outfit was nothing more than a black tube top with long, black pants that puffed out in the middle. Ganondorf appeared to be quite amused.

"You look like the twili version of Nabooru," He remarked with a wild grin. "Very entertaining, indeed."

"How can you make light conversation in the midst of _this_?" Midna demanded, gesturing helplessly at the various dead bodies strewn around the room. Her breath caught in her throat when she looked at the twili sitting in the throne. "_Amara_?" She asked, incredulously. "Was **everyone**__plotting behind my back?!"

"Midna?" Zelda called, helplessly as she and Link stood in the center of a circle of twilight beasts. Midna glanced at them and growled at Amara.

"Call them off, _now_." Much to her surprise, the other twili obeyed.

"Knock it off." Amara called, waving her hand a little. The twilight beasts growled, upset at losing their opportunity for lunch. Then, she smiled widely at Midna. "Well, not _everyone_ was plotting against you... Take that fool, Adel, for example." Midna's teeth clenched.

"Whatever are you talking about, Amara?" She asked in a controlled voice; Amara cackled and whistled. From another corner of the room, another Twilight Beast entered, but this one looked different... it wasn't exactly black, but more of a dark blue. It also had eyes that were piercing red. "Oh my Gods. My _**Gods!**_ You... transformed her...?!"

The throne room suddenly boomed with Ganondorf's laughter. "You know what that means, don't you whelps?" He asked, glancing back at Midna, Zelda, and Link quickly. "There is only one person who has the power to do this to the twili..."

All at once, it dawned upon the group of them. Anger filled their faces. Only one person had the power to do this... "Zant."


	14. All That Glitters is not Gold

**A/N: Okay, this chapter will be long. At least, longer than last chapter. xDD **

**By the way, I said a few chapters ago that a lot of this plot was kinda given to me by Lesser... She also came up with the Zant idea. ;D Which I honestly think makes this more interesting... Besides, let's all be honest, Zant's battle was the second best in TP.**

**Disclaimer-All I own is the plot and my OCs. -heart- You know... the bitchy Ira and Amara? :D  


* * *

**

The severity of the situation was officially shooting through the roof. Zant. Zant. He was... alive? "How?" Midna demanded as she grabbed Amara by the shirt, not caring that she was practically pulling the shirt off.

"You see, we have been... oh, educating ourselves in the magic of our ancestors... The magic of the old tribe; They had quite the diversity. That is where Zant learned how to turn twili into twilight beasts, I suppose. Anyway, we couldn't find that Dark Piece anywhere...until we searched your palace a bit more thoroughly. And, sure enough, in the ground even beneath the basement, it was there." Amara replied with a large smile. "Aren't you so proud of us, Midna? You spent your days treating us like fools... It looks like the joke's on you." Midna screamed and threw Amara into the wall.

"I will kill you for your treachery, you foolish girl!" Midna, completely enraged, shouted, running toward the twili with amazing speed. At that moment, Adel scurried **(A/N: xD How awkward must that look?) **across the room, seized Midna's throat, and smashed her into the wall. Link stabbed her in the back with the Master Sword, but it didn't seem to do much. Another twilight beast grabbed Link from behind while another went for Zelda, but it was promptly killed by a ball of energy from Ganondorf. Zelda couldn't help but feel a rush of gratitude for the Gerudo, if only for the moment. He seemed to be able to sense her thoughts, as he glanced back at her.

"Do not say a word, Princess. I must be sure that the Triforce of Wisdom is not harmed. Let a real master take care of these things." Ganondorf murmured as he pulled out something Zelda was surprised to see: The light sword that the sages had tried to kill him with. "I suppose that the Goddesses could not see me fighting without a sword, even if it is utterly useless." He added, no doubt sensing Zelda's thoughts once more. This triforce connection was starting to get weird.

Much to both Zelda and Ganondorf's surprise, the minute he unsheathed the sword and brought it an inch from the twilight monster holding Link, the monster screeched in pain and dissolved into fragments of Twilight. Ganondorf licked his lips hungrily. "Or perhaps it is not as useless as I first thought..." He did not bother attacking Adel, sensing a strange amount of power in her, and wound up taking out the others instead. Thanks to the fact that the sword automatically destroyed the beasts, the twilight beast was unable to revive its fallen comrade and fell to Ganondorf.

Zelda's light bow materialized out of apparently nowhere, and she pointed one of her light arrows at Adel's neck. "Don't... kill her..." Midna said in a raspy voice. Zelda knew full well that anything she could do to free Midna from Adel would kill the latter, so she allowed her friend to slowly have her air supply cut off. Zelda shook her head at Midna.

"There's nothing else we can do, Midna! Surely you've realized by now that there's no way to reverse this effect?!" She cried, still shaking her head. Link, however, jumped into the air and brought the Master Sword down on Adel's shoulder; Adel cried, or growled, in pain as Link lopped off the arm choking Midna; Midna rubbed her throat.

"I owe you." She said to Link as she slowly rounded on Amara. "Now, _you_...!" Midna sent out a rather strong energy wave, but Amara was pulled out of the way by another twili. Midna growled, baring her teeth. **(A/N: When Midna does this as an imp, it looks scary, but in her regular form it probably looks stupid. xD)** "How absolutely _precious_." Ira stood before her, holding Amara bridal style. Actually, it kind of reminded Midna of the time she had broken Ganondorf's barrier and woke up in Link's arms. She shook the thought from her head as her hair transformed into a number of red spikes that shot through the air and headed for Ira and Amara. Ira promptly dropped Amara and held up a hand that formed a black barrier in front of them.

The barrier did not stop the attack, but it broke the spikes into smaller pieces that pierced both Ira and Amara. Amara screamed in pain, putting one hand over her right eye. Ira smiled as blood freely gushed down his face, turning it red to match the color of the water. **(A/N: Obviously, we never see anyone bleed in the games, and I'm just saying they bleed red because I can. xD)** Zelda was bent over King Ralis, **(A/N: Who, by the way, was a GIRL in the japanese version.)** who seemed to be barely hanging on. A white light shot from Zelda's hands, but it was very feeble.

Link, who was standing near her, but watching Midna glanced down at her. "What's wrong?"

Zelda shook her head. "I haven't had enough time to regenerate my magic, and I don't have enough to save him..." She whispered, tears welling in her eyes. The feeble white light grew a little more, at least, it was enough to make Ralis open his eyes.

"Princess Zelda... Link... you have come...?" He asked in a voice barely above a whisper, forcing Link to kneel down beside the Zora. "I have failed... so miserably. My mother would be so ashamed..." Zelda shook her head and gently grasped his hand.

"Shh. Don't speak that way, King Ralis," Zelda whispered soothingly. "You are a great leader."

"My people..." Ralis murmured, looking around the room at the various dead bodies scattered about. "I have failed them... They were executed in a most cruel fashion..." His eyes were glazing over, Zelda noticed, when he looked back at her and Link. "Please... bury me with my parents... And, bury my people... They deserve that much..." His hand was falling out of Zelda's grip. Zelda willed more healing magic to enter Ralis' body, but she could only urge a spark. She cupped his cheek with her hand, allowing a tear to fall on the boy's chest.

"Do not fear, King Ralis, we will obey your wishes..." She murmured. He smiled weakly (which was really just the slight twitch of the corners of his mouth) and the light left his eyes.

Link was filled with guilt. He had once promised Ralis' mother, Queen Rutela, that he would take care of her son, and this is how he had repaid her. The sudden smashing of the throne chair caused Zelda and Link to snap back to reality. Adel, with what looked like blood dripping out of her mouth, was standing over them with a hungry look in her eyes. Zelda realized, with a mixture of horror and lurch of sickness, that a Zora's arm was hanging out of Adel's mouth.

"Bastard!" Link shouted as he slammed the Master Sword into Adel's gut. He noticed out of the corner of his eye that Ganondorf was fighting Amara with his sword while Midna took on Ira. Midna's mouth hung open for a minute as she knocked Ira into the wall and saw Link attacking her friend. "Midna..." But Midna only shook her head.

_'I have to let it go.'_ She told herself over and over as she refocused her attention on Ira. "You're here on Zant's orders? Then, what, may I ask, is Zant doing?" Ira blinked a few times, staring blankly at Midna.

"I'm sure he's watching our progress." Ira murmured more to himself than to Midna. "He wouldn't make us do his dirty work..."

"Ah, but he would!" Midna said, stabbing Ira in the gut with her hand, which was now the shape of a spike or spear. "You see, Zant learned it best from Ganondorf. Ganondorf used Zant and waited until I killed Zant to steal Zant's power, and now Zant is just using you to deal with _me_!" She twisted her hand unpleasantly inside of his body.

"You wouldn't kill me... I have been your assistant!" Ira's tone was now of pleading, and Midna smiled cruelly.

"In case you haven't noticed, I never really liked you. Also, you were plotting against me!" Midna stabbed her hand all the way through. "Let's be honest, if I wasn't killing you now, I would have sentenced you to death in the Twilight Realm." She quickly pulled her hand out of his gut and threw him into the water, where he washed out of the domain. "Good riddance!"

"Ira!" Amara shouted, diving into the bloody water, and being washed out of the room as well. Ganondorf took small steps out of the room, no doubt to make sure things were followed through. Midna paid no mind to the two twili for now and turned to Adel instead. Link was backed into a corner, standing in front of Zelda, who was still sitting on the ground, clutching Ralis' body. He was holding up the Master Sword, blocking each one of Adel's blows...

Midna inhaled sharply and closed her eyes; Her mind was made up, and she looked like she had when using the Fused Shadows on Ganondorf. She tapped into some of her magic, and she released more spikes. The spikes stabbed into Adel's back and went clear through her body, nearly stabbing Link, too. "Do it, Link." said Midna in as even a voice as possible. He stole a glance at her face before nodding.

Link pushed Adel away with his Master Sword and hit her into what was left of the throne. He jumped high above her as he had before and stabbed down the Master Sword into her chest as hard as he possibly could. Some sort of black smoke was coming out of her. He yanked the sword out of her body as it began to... change shape. Midna ran beside Adel, who was breathtakingly beautiful.

Adel's large, red eyes sparkled like rubies, and she had medium-length orange hair. She smiled, weakly, coughing up blood as Midna bent down beside her and took the Princess' hand. "I am sorry. Had I known, I would've warned you..." Midna shook her head.

"We can fix you yet! You will not die!" It almost sounded like an order. Adel giggled softly.

"Don't be silly. All things must come to an end... even you." **(A/N: Originally, Ganondorf said this line. D: I liked it better that way, but that's alright.) **She murmured quietly. "But don't worry; I bet your time isn't for a while."

"Are there... any twili left?" Midna softly asked as she caressed her friend's cheek. To her relief, Adel nodded.

"There are a few who decided to go into hiding... You'll have your work cut out for you when you retake your rightful place... Of course, you'll have fewer people to oppose you now." Adel added thoughtfully, her grip becoming weaker on Midna's hand. Midna felt something tug in her chest. Since Ira had been a part of this the hole time, he must have alerted Zant the second she had left the Twilight realm. "Take care, Midna." And for the second time that day in about the same place, the light left another's eyes. A sudden pressure rushed through Midna's shoulder, and her bright orange orbs met sky blue ones. Link gave her shoulder a small squeeze and helped her up.

"We'll avenge them all, I promise." He murmured soothingly, giving her arm an awkward pat. Midna blushed. If she were a bit more forward, she might've actually hugged him and sobbed into his chest; However, twili weren't known for the affection. Years of rejection had left the race cold.

**xxxxxx**

It took a whole lot of convincing on Link's part to get Zelda to part Ralis' dead body. After assuring her twenty times that they would return to bury the bodies, Zelda finally followed Link and Midna outside where they joined Ganondorf at the top of the waterfall. The sun was finally rising over where the castle would have been in the distance. To any uneducated person watching the four of them from way behind, they might have thought that they were a group of friends admiring the beauty of the sky. However, to anyone else who saw them, the four of them were allies in the most temporary of situations with each examining the minutes of life they had to go on, or how many more enemies they had to kill before taking out the 'top dog'. How the world had changed in the last hundred or so years.

"Where to next?" Midna asked Zelda who shrugged a little.

"The Goddesses were supposed to appear to us once we killed the twili here... If none of them have come, then that must mean that Ira is still living..." She replied, sighing sharply. "...on his last threads of life." Midna's hands clutched into fists, and the four of them glanced at the red water. The current was pushing everything straight down to Lake Hylia, which was probably why there were no longer any Zora remains at the bottom of the waterfall.

"So, we have to go down to Lake Hylia? In that **filthy **water?" Midna gagged at the very sight of the water. Having to swim in it was so unsanitary that it had to have been against some law of humanity. Much to the trios surprise, Ganondorf began to walk off.

"Hey!" Zelda shouted uncharacteristically as she ran after Ganondorf. "Where are you going? You have to help us!" Ganondorf stopped walking and grinned a deranged smile.

"On the contrary, I believe Link's exact words were: 'Ganondorf, if you work with us now to get rid of whatever wants to take over **this realm**, then you can fight us later.'" The Gerudo raised his red eyebrows. "_This realm_. I believe that we never discussed any other realms."

"I bet if it were one hundred years ago before _you_ broke the Triforce that you'd love to go there with us." Midna stated sourly. Ganondorf simply smiled.

"We discussed Zant!" Link argued, his left hand turning white from how tightly he was holding the hilt of the Master Sword. Ganondorf nodded.

"Yes. _Discussed_. I don't remember saying specifically that I was going to hep kill him." Link raised the Master Sword.

"Well, you'd _better_ remember then." Ganondorf kicked Link backwards with his foot.

"I think _not_." He whispered dangerously as he placed his heavy, armored boot on Link's throat. "Do not forget that you owe me the Triforces of Wisdom and Courage when you return along with the throne of Hyrule."

"That is only if you beat us in a fight." Zelda remarked, putting her rapier sword to the left of Ganondorf's neck; He chuckled at her actions and pressed down on Link's windpipe.

"Do not attempt to threaten me, Princess. I have broken the bodies of creatures larger and uglier than you; Do not think that because of our 'past' that I will not harm you until I have your Triforce piece." Ganondorf's tone was quiet, dangerous, and amused. "On the contrary, the Triforce can be taken from its dead bearer, I believe. However, Zelda, you may be more or less useful to me in the future, so perhaps I will not kill you." A twisted smile upturned the corners of Ganondorf's mouth as he pressed harder on Link's windpipe. In a second, the pressure was gone. "Good luck, fools." He turned and walked off without sparing them even a second glance.

Midna and Zelda bent down on either side of Link. "Are you alright?" Link nodded, rubbing his sore throat. How dare he talk to Zelda that way, that nasty, old... "Now what? We don't even know where Ira went to..." Zelda remarked sorely.

"But I am right here." Ira's high, cold voice spoke as he materialized behind Zelda and Midna. Midna immediately noticed the surge in his power as she and Zelda turned to look at him. The princesses and Link cringed at the sight of Ira, who was soaked in blood; It ran from his mouth like he had just lapped up some. "Ah, yes, you surely must feel my power; I killed Amara." The three of them only stared at him with blank expressions. "Another magic spell of the 'old tribe's was stealing power from another twili, and while Amara was utterly useless, she had a whole lot of power. The spell obviously requires drinking the victim's blood." added Ira as he licked his lips.

"I'm getting so tired dealing with you sick bastards..." Link growled as he slowly used his sword to stand back up. "I'm going to permanently put you where you belong... in hell!" He rushed forward faster than Midna or Zelda had ever seen him move and stabbed at Ira, who quickly evaded the attack.

Midna and Zelda exchanged looks. They summoned all of the magic they could muster (which wasn't much for Zelda). A black energy wave rushed out of Midna's hands while Zelda's white energy wave circled around it. The mixture of energy waves hit Ira head on and knocked him to the ground, giving Link an opening; Link jumped high into the air and stabbed the Master Sword all the way through Ira's body, into the ground.

Ira laughed quietly as Midna stood over him. "You did it... I knew you... had it... in you..." She smiled with satisfaction as his body disappeared into fragments of twilight.

"Link, Zelda, Midna," A soft female voice that Link recognized as Farore's called from behind the cheering trio. They whirled around to face the breathtaking Goddess. She smiled softly at Link, Zelda, and Midna, who's mouth was hanging open with shock. _'That's right,'_ Link said, looking at Midna, _'She's never seen Farore up close before...'_ "I am sorry that Ganondorf has walked away from you." Link shook his head.

"To be honest, I expected as much." He remarked as he sheathed his bloody blade. Farore simply sighed.

"Anyway, come to the Mirror Chamber, my sisters and I have a surprise for you." And with a snap of her beautiful, golden fingers, they disappeared from the Zora's domain and reappeared in the dusty desert at the top of Arbiter's Grounds where two other golden Goddesses waited for them. The Goddess with bright, icy blue hair turned toward them with a friendly but firm smile. The last Goddess who seemed to be the leader of the group also turned toward them.

"How nice to finally meet you Link, Zelda," Din said with a wide, friendly smile. Her hair was wild and red with orange and yellow streaks running through it. **(A/n: Unlike the other two, her element is pretty set... xD)** She nodded at Midna, who smiled nervously back. Power was just radiating off of this Goddess like sunlight rolled off of the sun. Upon noticing Ganondorf's missing presence, the Goddess frowned. "He'll get what's coming to him... I treated him to kindness by reviving him! Unappreciative little..." Din's sentence broke into a series of rants and whispers.

Nayru shook her head at her older sister and turned to the swordsman and princesses. "I repaired the mirror, but, Midna," She put a heavy emphasis on the twili's name as she stared at the twilight princess right in the eyes, "I have just broken a major law of humanity by repairing this mirror. The next time you break this mirror, it doesn't matter for what reason, it is gone for good; I will not overlook the law again." Midna nodded, slowly. That's right, Nayru had created law for the world to live by... it only made sense that repairing the mirror distressed the Goddess.

"Thank you so much, Nayru." Zelda murmured as she, Link, and Midna fell into bows. Nayru smiled.

"Now, then. Take out the other one who disobeys the law of the world; Take care of that wretched snake, Zant." With that, the Goddesses waved and each disappeared in a _special_ way. Farore disappeared with a wave in a gust of wind, Nayru seemed to just fade away (going against another law), and Din's image burned away.

When they were alone, Link, Zelda, and Midna simply stared at each other. "No matter what happens, we're in this together, right?" Zelda said with a large, genuine smile. She put her hand in the center. Midna nodded and put her hand on top of Zelda's. Link smiled, slowly and put his hand on top of Midna's, causing the both of them to blush. Zelda's smile faltered a little as she pulled her hand away and climbed to the top of the mirror's platform.

She stood at the edge of the platform, causing the mirror's stairs to appear. _'How could I be so foolish? Midna and Link have always had something, right? They have a history...'_ Zelda felt something sting her eyes and realized that she was crying. Now she felt ridiculous. "Come on!" She called to the still unmoving Midna and Link after she quickly wiped her eyes. The two of them looked up and blushed further before following Zelda.

Midna led the way up the stairs and the three of them stood cramped at the top. The mirror's light began to shine on them and Zelda felt a strange sensation as her body dissolved and entered the portal that had now appeared on the rock wall.  


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**A/N: Nice chapter, right? Haha, Ganondorf walked out on them! Poor Zelda, it seems Link's made up his mind... D: I'm guessing this story will end in a few chapters, but I can never really be too sure... My stories kind of write themselves. See you guys next chapter!**


	15. Twilight Palace

**This chapter was inspired by the song "Violet Hill" by Coldplay, so it's going to be... interesting. Sorry it took so long for this one to get up. 1) I ran out of ideas early on. 2) I was at a party for the majority of the day (that I was awake for xD). I still don't know when this story is going to end, but I'm guessing in a few chapters. :3**

**I loved all of the surprised reviews, by the way. xD But I never said for sure that that pairing was set, so don't give up hope yet. xD**

**Disclaimer: I do NOT own Legend of Zelda... God, why do you people insist on making me suffer?! -Sobs- xD Sorry, guys...  


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The Twilight Realm was so breathtakingly beautiful that Zelda was surprised. Hyrule had gotten merely a taste of it when Zant took over, but being in the actual origin, the real place where it fell... It was like being on a high. She stopped when she reached an area that had three different paths. Link and Midna walked closely together, causing more jealousy to flare inside of Zelda. "Where do you think we should go?" Zelda called to Midna although she was sure she'd be ignored. To her surprise, Midna pointed straight ahead at the path in the middle.**

The sols were still standing in their place at the square, surprising Midna greatly, but her surprise was quickly replaced with suspicion. _'He probably didn't bother because he has other means now of transforming them... the Dark Piece.'_ She took the lead with Link close behind her and Zelda was finally lagging behind. Rather than examine her own feelings, Zelda examined the beauty of the twilight realm. The sky was golden (forever the color of perpetual twilight) with the black flecks falling from the sky like snow.

Midna pushed open the palace doors, and they entered a much darker area. Although the twilight realm was beautiful, mixed with the appearance of this palace, it was a bit sinister looking. The palace was a glossy, navy blue color all around,. And the shine of the room gave the impression that the walls, floor, and ceiling had just been washed. The instant they entered, Midna glared at the clouds of black on the ground, but Zelda didn't understand why. She made to move forward, but Midna flung out her arms.

To Zelda the fog looked familiar somehow; Actually, it looked a lot like Zant's magic crystal. "What is it?" Zelda asked the twili, trying not to come off unnecessarily annoyed.

Midna glanced back at her for a minute before staring into the depths of the black and red fog. "Zant's magic.. I'm sure it'll force me into my imp form and force Link into his beast form..." She mused, thinking about Zelda for an instant. "You'll probably be somewhat of a surprise, Princess. But, we have no choice, so... let's take our chances." She took two steps off of the platform and landed in the fog below with Link following not too far behind. However, Zelda was a bit more hesitant in stepping into the magic that could do Goddesses only know what. She somehow noticed two flashes of black within the fog and became more reluctant.

"Come on, Zelda!" Midna called up to her in an impish voice with a bark not too far behind in timing. _'I suppose I have my answer...'_ She plunged herself off of the platform and into the darkness as well. At first, she felt very desperate as she couldn't see her hand in front of her face; All she could see was black with some flashing red. Then, the Triforce of Wisdom began to glow on her hand, and she felt her body change. A light surrounded her, and Zelda found that she could now see much better. Not only that, but her hand was... bandaged; Her whole outfit had changed.

Sheik stared at himself and frowned a little. Well, it was a lot better than being killed or being transformed into a wolf, he supposed. Not to mention the fact that the red Sheikah eyes gave him amazing night vision. "Come on!" Midna and Link were all the way at the exit already, so Sheik ran after them.

The next room was much larger and, by the looks of it, a few floors. **(A/N: Like I really memorized that Palace of Twilight... I'm making this up as I go along. xD)** Midna frowned at the dark room that seemed to be absolutely covered in twilight. She pulled on Link's ears so that he would look at her. "I wonder if you still have the light of the sols infused in your blade? After all, to get to the next floor to turn on a switch that will make a platform down here get us all the way to the exit," She indicated said door, "We need to clear the magic to get to the other platform to take us to the platform with the switch..." Sheik felt his brain explode at Midna's sentence, and he was sure that Link's had done the same.

Holding up a hand, he said, "Why don't you two just stand where the platform to the exit is, and I can activate the switch?" Midna blinked.

"How are _you_ going to manage that?" She asked in her old, skeptical way. Sheik smirked (which Midna could only tell by the look in his eyes).

"Just watch." He spread apart his arms and a crack sounded as smoke engulfed his image. Then, he called from the next floor, near the switch. Sheik kicked the giant orb there and beneath Link and Midna's feet, a platform appeared and lifted them up to the third floor of the room. Sheik once again disappeared and reappeared beside them at the door. "Piece of cake." Midna raised her eyebrows.

"When did you get so precise at that?" She asked.

"I've practiced a little." Sheik replied before lifting up the door and entering the next room. This room was simple enough and, better yet, it had no fog. Midna pressed the magic crystal against Link's forehead and transformed herself back into her regular form. Link stretched his arms high above his head and swung his sword back and forth a few times just for the feel. Sheik led the way in this room, too, as it was completely empty of... anything. Except for the two doors on either side of the room.

He took another step forward, and gates slammed shut over both doors. The three of them glanced around with distress. Whenever an exit was blocked, something bad was sure to follow. It happened so fast that no one (not even Sheik with his fast reaction time) could do a thing. Two large, dark hands glowing with symbols came in from either of the side walls and rushed at Sheik with a lightning speed. The hands both began to summon some sort of magical orb so that when they slammed into Sheik's body, not only was he in intense pain as he was crushed between them, but he was also shocked by the magic.

"What the hell? Those hands from before!" Link wasn't being very specific, Midna realized boredly. Those two hands had been destroyed, she had thought, as Link had said 'from before'. They had been summoned by Zant to hold 'prisoner' both of the sols in opposite wings of the palace. Now, they were crushing Sheik. And, for some strange reason, she didn't feel the urge to help him. She tried to tell herself that it was because she felt no particular to the attachment as she did to the princess herself, so maybe that meant that so long as Zelda looked and acted like Sheikah, she would just leave her to di--That was a crazy thought. Midna summoned her magical spikes and attempted to impale the hands but they were much stronger than they had before.

Link ran swiftly toward the hands and slashed at them with the combined power of the Master Sword and the power of the infused sols. The hands almost seemed to shriek in pain as they dropped a frayed-looking Sheik to the ground. He bent down over the Sheikah and rolled him over to get a good look. Sheik was still breathing, and that was good enough for the time being. Link glared daggers at the hands and used a quick spin attack followed by the jump strike to finish the two of them off.

A high, cold laughter filled the room. At first, neither Midna or Link could place the sound, but then they realized what it was: Zant's laughter. "Show yourself, traitor!" Midna growled at the ceiling and looked down when Zant appeared beside Sheik.

"Back away from her!" Link roared at his old enemy as he charged at the old snake **(A/N: Is THAT what Zant is supposed to be? I still haven't figured it out...)**, but he was thrown back by a black barrier.

"Oh? _Her_?" A delighted Zant asked as he bent down to pick up Sheik and examine the symbol on his hand. "Oh, sure enough, it _is_ her; The princess. I figured that she was safely hiding in the other realm, but thank you for proving me wrong." Link glowered at the twili. The usurper king seemed to be totally different from last time, or at least, he hadn't lost his cool yet. "Well, it is nice to be reacquainted again with her, and you two." Zant paused to sneer at Link and Midna. "I wonder where Ganondorf might be? After all, he helped you two kill my followers, didn't he?"

"If you're suggesting the twilight beats were followers of their own free will--!" Midna started, outraged. Zant held up a hand to silence her.

"No, I was speaking of... er... Ira and Amara... That was their names, right?" He added, quietly to himself. "But, yes, you also killed your followers, too. Congratulations." Zant sneered at Midna, and she wanted nothing more than to hit him; It was a no brainer as to why he and Ganondorf had worked together. "Have you come to regain your throne? If so, you may have some trouble with that." He dropped Sheik haphazardly to the ground and strode forward, ignoring Link's very presence. There was something else about Zant, Link noticed. Zant was very... carefree, but there was also a great aura of power about him; Midna noticed it, too. The power that rolled off of Zant's person was a quarter similar to the power that Midna had sensed in the Goddesses. That was life. Truth and acceptance.

"You really took that piece of magic left by the twilight Gods, huh?" inquired Midna with an almost sad smile. "Are you desperate or just plain stupid? Or maybe it's both?" Zant shook his head, raising his left hand.

"Don't be foolish. For all of your snide remarks, I know the truth, and so do you. Both of us know that you cannot _hope_ to defeat me. Even with that withered magic, you wouldn't have put a scratch on me." **(A/n: You'll remember that the 'withered magic' is referring to the Fused Shadows. :3)** Zant sneered, still paying no mind to Link. "There are two people who might've had a chance to defeat me, but without Ganondorf, Zelda and Link are useless, too. Actually, Link now stands on his own, anyway." Midna and Link both shot the usurper baffled looks, but Zant did not seek to explain himself further. He took a few steps back with a meaningful smile and snapped. Then, he disappeared into a swirling portal.

Midna and Link were still utterly baffled by Zant's actions. "Sure, he acted _insane_ when we last confronted him, but this time is weirder... He seemed perfectly in control, but I wonder what that was about..." Link murmured more to himself than to Midna as he walked back over to Sheik; This sent a pang of sorrow throughout Midna, but she just closed her eyes and took a few steps forward, only to hear Link cry out. Her bright eyes flew open, and she saw Link cradling his right arm against his chest. Midna's eyebrows knitted together confusedly.

There was another strange presence of magic; It was pretty intense, actually, and it was coming from... Sheik! Sheik licked the blood off of his rapier sword and got up with blazing red eyes and darkened, ill-looking skin. There was another sound, too: The sound of the bars being lifted off of the door from the previous room. "Now you two have a decision to make," Zant's crazed voice echoed through the room. "You can kill your friend and take the door to come and see me, also losing one of your few chances to beat me. Or, you can leave her behind to me." Link shuddered at the way he said this. "Your final choice is you can allow yourselves to be killed by her. It's your choice, but it doesn't really matter what you choose; I win no matter what."

If they had never wanted to have been on opposite sides than Sheik before, Link and Midna now did. He rolled about the room at an extremely quick speed and threw out needles or magic spells. Otherwise, he'd teleport behind them and start attacking with his sword. Midna and Link didn't know how to fight him without causing some serious injury, so they had to settle for defense. Midna summoned a small, temporary black shield with the swipe of her hands to combat the punches and stabs that Sheik was trying to get in. "How pitiful that the Wisdom bearer would fall so easily to my magic... Maybe if her heart wasn't such a wreck, then..."

How could they beat Sheik without killing him? How could they stop the possession period? Link gritted his teeth and began to parry Sheik's blows as he seemed to have become bored with Midna. _'What can I do to call you back, Zelda? What?!'_ He could feel his hope slipping away as Sheik stabbed him in the shoulder and didn't even appear the slightest bit resentful. _"Zelda?" _Link tried to call to her through their connection, but Zelda didn't seem to be anywhere in there anymore.

"It's like with Adel, Link," Midna murmured bitterly to him from across the room as she attempted to clot the blood pouring out of an arm wound. "There's no way to get to her; We have to just..." She trailed off meaningfully with a small nod. No. Link tightened his grip on the Master Sword, causing his knuckles to turn white. He was clenching his teeth so hard that he thought they might eventually shatter from the pressure.

This wasn't the same. Adel was... She hadn't been... But Link couldn't describe the difference, but he just _couldn't_ slay Zelda. This was different. "I can't, Midna. This just... isn't the same." He could see Midna's temper, always right at the boiling point, threatening to boil over.

"Why's that? Because Adel was a twili? Because she appeared to be a mindless beast when she was attacking us? Why, Link? **What's different**?" The twili was becoming impatient as she asked question after question without leaving any real time for Link to answer. The two blades sparked as Sheik struck down on the Master Sword with an extreme amount of force.

Link searched those blank, deadly red eyes to find an answer. He so desperately needed to know _why_ this was different. When they had destroyed King Bulbin and he had said those terrible things, Link had told Zelda: "Like I said: 'It doesn't matter because I'm going to protect you, no matter what.' And that's a promise, Zel." Goddesses, he was so stupid for not realizing it sooner. "Is that it, Zel?" He asked her in a calm, quiet voice. Sheik faltered for a minute, but then continued relentlessly slamming his sword onto Link's. "You've allowed this to happen because you've given up...?" _"On us?" _Something seemed to stir deep within Sheik causing his sword to drop and his eyes to become less intense. That something made Sheik fall to his knees. And, finally, that something made Sheik become Zelda again.

She looked into his azure eyes with sadness and regret. Zelda bit her bottom lip tightly as she got a quick look at Link and Midna's wounds. Finally, she spoke in a voice that he already missed; "I'm... sorry." And her eyes dropped to the floor. Link smiled at her and gently pulled her chin back up to face him.

"Don't do that. You must've realized by now that when you don't look into my eyes that it's like clouds covering the sun, right?" Her eyes widened for just a second before a small smile returned to her face. When Link realized that she couldn't speak, he pulled her into a gentle hug. "I'm sorry for not keeping my promise, Zelda." She looked at him with a perplexed expression.

"I've done a sucky job at protecting at you." He explained with a wide smile. Behind them, although neither of them noticed, Midna had dropped to her knees and began to sob.  


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**A/N: There is. Nothing fair. About love. :3 See you guys next chapter. Also, I apologize for the shortness of this chapter, but... you might not see another chapter for a few days, so... I owe you this much. xD**


	16. Chapter 16

**A/N: Thank you all for all of your reviews! Did I mention that last time? Ah well... you can never say it enough! Anyway, this is the exciting chapter. (I think). Right now, I think I know what's gonna happen, but I think I'll let my fingers do the work.**

**Lolz, I love that people are confused over the pairings still... xDDD Sorry, guys! I'm not laughing AT you, I'm laughing WITH you. :33 I'm pretty positive that the pairings are set now, but I just feel so bad that I'm leaving some people on happy...though with three pairings, you can't please them all.**

**Oh, yes, I think I'm going to put something in this chapter to majorly upset you all. ;D  


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The throne room's door had been freed from the gate after Zelda came to her senses, it would appear. It was hard for her, but she couldn't be mad at Zelda. After all, whose fault was it really? Link's. She could go on hating Link, but she had met the Princess before Link, so she would stay mad at him, she decided.**

Once Zelda and Link realized that the door was opened, they suggested that they finish off Zant, to which Midna sarcastically replied, "Oh, is the door _really_ open? Why bother finishing off Zant? He hasn't done any permanent damage." The throne room was completely and totally pitch black, and the door slammed behind them.

It was then that Midna wondered what gave each room its lighting anyway, not that that was an important matter to think about at the moment. Zelda used a little of her magic to summon a ball of fire to illuminate the area, but the throne room was absolutely empty.

"That's... odd and totally unlike Zant." Midna remarked as she searched the room for any sign of him. "Where could he be? We _just_ saw him..." And then, her sentence caught in her throat, and she began to gasp painfully. Link and Zelda turned to face her with confused expressions, and their eyes went wide. A huge, black sword had been struck through Midna's gut.

Zelda's mouth moved to make words, but no sound came out. Angry as ever, Link ran forward with the glowing Master Sword raised over his head. "I'll kill you, Link! I'll sever your head from your **neck!**" Link was using a tone Zelda had never heard before. It was frightening. With a disgusting sound, Zant wretched the sword out of Midna, and swiped it at Link, flecking blood over the hero's tunic.

Midna fell forward, and Zelda felt her body move on autopilot to catch her. "Midna?" She started, calmly at first. No need to panic, no need to panic. Since when did she panic? The twili's eyes weren't opening. "Midna! Please!" The clang of metal on metal echoed throughout the room and suddenly Zelda found herself surrounded by beasts of all shapes. They were all the twilight counterparts of Hyrule's normal beasts. There were ReDeads, ReDead Soldiers, Bokoblins, Twilight Beasts, twilight bugs **(A/n: The little, mini twilight beasts that crawl around Hyrule's sewers.)**, Keese. Kagarocs.

A surprising light shot out of Midna and a large, black barrier formed around the two of them. Zelda swallowed and looked down at the twili. Midna's eyes were opened only a little. "Midna, I'm sorry..." Zelda started, at first not very sure _why _she was sorry.

"Is he anyone's property? No. Shut up and stop being sorry." Midna's voice was cool and very weak. "We should have never fought, Princess. Ever. It was dumb. That's not my point right now, though. Do you trust me?"

"Of course." Zelda answered immediately and without hesitation. The twili smiled a little.

"Good." A golden light was emitting from Midna and entering Zelda's body. Zelda's lips made words but no sound came out again. Midna's eyes were closing again.

"Midna... stop!" shouted Zelda, finally finding her voice. "You can't _do_ this!" Midna's eyebrow arched although her eyes remained shut.

"Why not? You did it before..." Her faltering voice was so weak and pitiful... "Besides, _I_ can't beat Zant; Only you, Link, and... **him**. For now, you need to hold your own and without magic, that is impossible." Zelda said nonsense, but she knew that Midna was right.

"Midna..." Her voice was full of awe and appreciation; Midna gave a weak giggle that sounded on the edge of hysteria.

"You'll return it to me once you're done. You can be assured of _that_." It was more of an order than anything else. Zelda smiled and nodded her head slightly, paying no mind to the blood that was getting all over her. Then, Midna's body became still as the last of her energy entered her, and she carefully laid the body down on the floor.

Midna's words seemed to have cleared up the haze forming in Zelda's mind. Now things were set in perspective. Another thing helped put things straight, though: Midna's barrier began to shatter as the creatures of twilight tackled it. Zelda jumped to her feet and an electric energy started at her hands. A golden ball of twilight seemed to be forming at her hands.

With the combined power of Zelda and Midna, she released the energy ball onto the creatures, and watched as their skin was forced off of their skulls from the hight. Then, they faded into darkness. "Not bad." Zelda remarked to herself as she unsheathed her rapier sword and quickly blocked the ReDead Soldier's weapon.

She felt like she was on a high. It felt like nothing could hurt her. If only she knew. A terrible scream emitted from the ReDead and many of the ones surrounding it, and she felt her body freeze, but she wasn't the least bit scared. Zelda was frozen to the core and about five ReDead soldiers had surrounded her.

She tried to squirm in order to at least get herself away from the swords, but it was no good; Her body had been afflicted by too many screams. Zelda couldn't even get herself to scream for help.

Zant snickered at Link as he grabbed the Master Sword and threw it away like nothing; The light from the Sols didn't seem to make Zant flinch. The dark aura just seemed to be increasing more all the time, and now Link was left unprotected, but he wasn't the only one. His azure eyes flickered over Zant's shoulder briefly and froze.

There were five ReDead soldiers bringing down their swords on the helpless body of Zelda. "Zelda! Move!" He shouted to her out of pure desperation. _'Why won't she move?'_ His heart stopped beating when he noticed something else. Zelda's arms seemed to be flung out, and he had been confused as to why at first, but then he spotted Midna's lifeless body behind her. "Zelda!" Zant snickered at Link's anguish and stabbed his sword all the way through the swordsman's shoulder. Link's scream raised the hairs on Zelda's neck and she tried to force her head back to look at him, but to no avail.

Her own scream wouldn't even rip out of her throat when she was simultaneously hit by five swords. The paralyzed effect wore off of her about a second after she was attacked, and her screams made Link's blood boil. If he could only call back his sword somehow... but he knew that was impossible. Zant was distracted for the moment, watching Zelda bleed profusely. Link's jaw snapped together to avoid screaming out of pain as he used a rush of adrenaline to rip out Zant's sword and kick him in the same second.

Zant's eyes revealed shock for a brief moment as he hit the ground, then he clicked his tone with approval. "It's about time you show some strength." He remarked as he got back to his feet; His eyes flew open even wider as Link ran at him and threw his arms around his neck.

"Zant, I..." Link swallowed hard. "Now that it appears that Zelda and Midna are both dead... I have no other choice..." He looked meaningfully into Zant's eyes. "I... don't want to be alone, Zant!" sobbed Link as he buried his head into Zant's shoulder.

Zant smiled and his eyes began to glaze with tears of delight. "Oh, Link... since I first laid my eyes upon you, I knew you were the one... The only reason I cursed you before was because I was jealous that you cared about Midna so much... What about me, I wondered. I wanted you to notice me, but you hated me!" Tears began to slide down Zant's cheeks.

Link pulled himself away from Zant and looked at the twili in the eyes. "With Midna and Zelda gone... I'm free, Zant... Zant... I love you!" He suddenly announced. Zant smiled as their faces came closer and closer together...

**(A/N: xDDDD THAT was the cruel joke, guys. -heart- Now, for what REALLY happened...)**

"It's about time you show some strength." He remarked as he got back to his feet, but Link ran right past him and took out the ReDead soldiers with a single spin attack. The ReDeads around him hissed, but did not approach him, and Link fell beside Zelda. He held her in his arms, ignoring the warm wetness that he felt.

Her back had been totally cut up and the front of her dress was mostly shredded. There was dried blood on her too that Link figured was from Midna. Link's teeth clenched together so tightly that it felt like his teeth might shatter. "Zelda, please, open your eyes..." He murmured, not really expecting anything good to come out of it. Link shook his head and closed his eyes. _'Damn it... if I could have been...'_ A silky hand stroked Link's cheeks, and his eyes fluttered open. Zelda was smiling weakly, but she was smiling all the same.

"Don't beat yourself up; You didn't do anything." He noticed upon closer examination that her gloves were mostly shredded, too. She noticed his eyes flicker to Midna's lifeless body, and she smiled again. "She's alive in here." Her hand pointed to her heart. "Her body, though..."

"Oh, how romantic." Zant said, shooting a longing look at Link. **(A/N: Just kidding!)** "It's such a shame that I must kill you now." His sword was raised, but it seemed to come down on them in slow motion.

_"Link," _Zelda's voice spoke urgently within the confines of his mind. _"We almost forgot, but we have to act now! Without Ganondorf, we can't defeat Zant, but we can stall him... We need to combine our power!" _He nodded his head and jumped out of harm's way with reflexes like a cat. Zant's sword slammed into the ground and caused a small crater to appear.

"That's some power." remarked Zelda as Link set her down beside him. He bent down and picked up the Master Sword.

"How exactly do we... do this?" Link murmured, holding out his hand blazing with the Triforce's power.

Zelda smiled. "I have no clue." She replied in an edgy voice like she had been about to giggle nervously. She put her own Triforce-embroided hand out, clasped Link's, and closed her eyes. Link blinked confusedly before following suit.

"O, Ancient Goddesses Farore and Nayru, bless us with your power of the Triforce," Zelda's voice boomed as if she had been using magic to amplify it; Link had heard her use the voice once before when calling upon the light spirits of Hyrule. "Combine our power to help us defeat this evil that dare overtake the world that you created!" Link's eyes opened a little to see if anything was happening and immediately regretted it. Zant, who was closing in on them, even had to shield his eyes. The light from the Triforce symbols was so bright that it was drowning out every other aspect of the room.

When Link opened his eyes again, he realized that he could see more than before; He could make out every spec of light, and he could visibly _see_ Zant's black, powerful aura. Feeling slightly panicked, Link opened his mouth to yell, but he was silenced by two thin, pale fingers touching his lips. His eyes went to Zelda, and he wanted to scream more than before: Her eyes were golden and without pupils. Zelda giggled quietly. "Link, your eyes are the same. Look," She indicated their clasped hands, both glowing golden with power.

For the first time, Link realized he could see their auras, too. They were golden with power to combat Zant's. "What do we do?" Link asked, expecting Zelda to automatically know. It wasn't a far-off thought, because Zelda lifted up her right hand and waited for Link to do the same. She brought their opposite hands closer together and a huge ball of light (which was slightly orange from Midna's addition) began to materialize.

The ball of light shot off and hit Zant, who had been watching with a disbelieving expression, squarely in the chest. Zant was knocked backwards, into the throne, and they both expected him not to get back up. Zelda temporarily released Link's hand, causing their eyes to return to their azure colors, and threw her arms around Link's neck. "I didn't think we'd actually _killed_ him, but, Link...!" She was so excited that even Link couldn't help but smile. "We did it!"

"Not quite." His voice was quiet and had a controlled anger to it. The next thing they knew, they were knocked apart by a ball of pure darkness. Zelda heard Link slam into a wall with a sickening sound, and saw him slowly slide down the wall, trailing blood down. Zelda whimpered. She had only hit the ground, managing to catch herself somehow. "You, Princess..." Zant seemed to have at last tapped into the full potential of the Dark Piece: His eyes were pitch black, and the aura of darkness was raging around him like a fire.

His strong, white hand clutched her throat and slammed her into the wall, twice. The tribal markings on his skin were glowing black rather than the usual cyan color. Zelda struggled to breathe, her heart pounding in her chest. Tears were welling up in her eyes. Surely he would snap her into two in just a short amount of time. "You were foolish to believe that your power of goodness could beat my dark power! The power granted to me by the Gods who wished for the evil denizens of light to _**die**_ for what they did to us!" Zant pushed down on her throat harder and harder.

_"Link._"Her mind was in a haze, but she called to him with the last bit of resolution she could find. His mind seemed to be completely blank, and she whimpered again. Once again, another Zelda miscalculated and caused hell. _"__**Link!**__"_ Zelda screamed into his mind, losing her calm.

"Goodnight, sweetheart." He pressed harder, and she knew her neck was about to snap, but then something wonderful happened.

A dark hand from behind Zant seized him, causing Zant to drop Zelda to the ground. "Do you think that I would really allow _you_ to destroy him? What are you other than a desperate madman? It is my _**duty**_ to see that the bearers of Wisdom and Courage are destroyed by **my** hands!" Zelda had never been so happy to see him. She was so happy that she was surprised at herself. Ganondorf was now attempting to snap _Zant's_ neck in two.  


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**A/N: Sorry I had to cut this off so soon, but my uncle had to use his room and I have to get this up. xD Um... I will try to update tomorrow, no promises because I'm going to my best friend's house. I'm sorry, but I will try to update ASAP, okay? See you guys for the next chapter.**


	17. Long Way Down

**A/N: I'm really glad you guys liked that joke... After being with my crazy family for a few hours, that's what happens to my brain. Thank you all for your reviews... they made me smile. :3 Sorry if my little joke caused harm to you or... your parents. xD Now, for the next chapter! The chapter title comes from the song "Summer Shudder" by AFI, as does the chapter.**

**Now, the age old question: Did Ganondorf save them because of the Triforces or because after 100 years, he's grown attached? ;D**

**Disclaimer-No, I do not own Legend of Zelda. God...esses. :D**

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"We could've ruled Hyrule _and_ the Twilight Realm together, you old fool." gasped Zant as he flailed his arms. The aura of power coming from Ganondorf was surprisingly powerful, more so than hers and Links combined. ****(A/n: Obviously that's because he has the Triforce of Power. :3)** Still, Zelda had a terrible feeling that Zant was playing with Ganondorf...

"I stand alone, you backbone-less crazy man." Ganondorf simply replied as he pressed harder on Zant's neck.

"Oh? Then explain to me why you saved **them**?" He spat venomously. Once again, his aura flared, and Ganondorf was knocked a few feet away from them. Zelda's eyes trailed worriedly over to Link who still hadn't moved. Zant glanced at Zelda and followed her eyes to Link's unmoving body. "Good pick, Princess. I will finish off him first." Horrified, Zelda watched as Zant headed for Link's body, and without thinking, she sent another huge energy wave at him. First came the white blast and then Midna's blast circled around it like before.

Zant, who couldn't have been paying less attention, cried out as he hit another wall. "Permanent brain damage can't be good for you, Zant; After all, you were screwed up in the first place." Zelda remarked to herself as her eyes scanned the area. Both Link and Ganondorf showed no signs of moving anytime soon.

"I'll deal with you later!" Zant cried with a voice on the edge of hysteria. The remaining monsters in the room stirred as if he had called them and started for Zelda, who was looking down at her glowing hand. ReDeads began to shriek to arrest her movement, but the transformation had already started. Light covered Zelda like a blanket, warding off the monsters. When it disappeared, she was Sheik again.

A twilight moblin **(A/N: These weren't in TP, but they're big, so I wanted them in this chapter. D: Look them up if you really want to know what they are, but they're basically big bull-dog like things that walk on two feet and harass you in the Lost Woods.)** ran at Sheik (who distantly thought that the action was a bit uncharacteristic and kinda funny looking) and slammed its fist down, but he was able to jump away just in time and land on its shoulders. He sent another paranoid glanced over his shoulder to find Zant picking up Link by the front of his shirt.

There was a strange clicking noise in the air as Sheik gathered needles in his hand and threw them at Zant, harmlessly falling at his feet. He cursed quietly, stabbed the Moblin through the neck with his rapier sword, and casually jumped away. Sheik moved nimbly, avoiding the other monsters with no problem, and aimed a kick at Zant's neck. The attack wasn't meant to hurt him, just distract him from what he was doing, and it worked.

An annoyed Zant dropped Link to the ground like a rag doll and seized Sheik's leg. "You're becoming rather irksome, Princess." He growled, throwing Sheik into another wall and slowly following him.

"Actually, it would be 'Sheikah'." He corrected the twili as he slowly got to his feet and rubbed his head. Zant snarled at him and Sheik rolled out of the way as a black bolt of lightning hit where he would have been sitting.

"Don't be cute. You can't beat me. The Triforce of Wisdom is the weakest of all pieces!" Zant shouted, his eyes taking on a deranged look. Sheik remembered this well, however. Zant was completely and totally unbalanced in his mind: Or, rather, he was crazy.

"That's where you're wrong." Sheik spat with his hands balled into fists. "The Triforce of Wisdom is what allowed this wonderful transformation, and if you ask me, it sure is slowing you down." But he barely had the chance to get a breath in. Zant had sent another lightning bolt at him while he had been speaking, and it hit Sheik's stomach, knocking him over.

"That's where _you're_ wrong. You are weak! I am all powerful!" Zant's hands were glowing, and he was sending another blast of blackness at Sheik. Sheik stirred, but his body was paralyzed from the attack. His stomach was also bleeding something awful. Once again, his unexpected ally stepped in. Ganondorf used the light sword to ward off the attack, which separated into two blasts, harmlessly hitting the wall on either side of Sheik.

"You are weak and you are foolish." Ganondorf said to Sheik without looking at him. "I grow tired of playing around with this snake. Awake your boyfriend so that we can finish Zant." Sheik suddenly found the strength in himself to move, so he ran past Zant and headed straight for Link's still unmoving body. Zant made a move to attack Sheik, but Ganondorf attacked him with his sword so fast that Zant had no choice but to block him.

"You think that _you_ are stronger than me?" Zant demanded, pushing back on Ganondorf's sword with ease.

"Oh, I **know** that I am stronger than you. I am just humoring this foolish power that you have gained as a result of pure idiocy." The Gerudo King replied, unflinching.

Sheik kneeled beside Link and began to shake him. "Link? Link, wake up!" He cried. **(A/N: How weird must that sound?)** Link didn't move, but he didn't fall over either, which was probably a good sign. He closed his eyes and allowed a white light to enter Link's chest. The magic jump started Link's heart, and he almost appeared surprised to be alive.

Link smiled with relief but then frowned at Sheik's wounds. "There's no time, we have to help Ganondorf!" Sheik said, jumping to his feet, and then pausing. _'I never thought I'd say that in my life.'_ Sparks were flying between Ganondorf and Zant's swords. The two of them were almost unevenly matched although Zant still had the upper hand with the Dark Piece.

Sheik transformed back into Zelda and grasped Link's hand. "We'll do this together, right?" She asked him with an unsure expression. Link squeezed her hand as if to assure her. Both of their hands were glowing again.

Zant's aura exploded into more power again. The whole room seemed to be engulfed by his aura, and Link could barely see the red color of the clock-like object that appeared behind Zant and spun. Then, Link felt everything fade away.

**xxxxxx**

When Link came to, he realized that he could breath a lot easier than before. It was really dark, though, and he thought that maybe the throne room had become totally black. Zant was clashing swords with Ganondorf again with Zelda taking aim at his back. Zelda seemed to be floating upwards like there was no gravity. There was something additionally odd about them, though: It looked like they weren't breathing.

Ganondorf and Zelda were turning blue in the faces because they were holding in their breath, and Link couldn't understand why. Then, he looked down at himself and understood. Although he wasn't quite sure how it had happened, he was wearing his Zora's armor and iron boots.

"Zelda! Ganondorf!" He tried to yell at them, but his mouth was covered with the zora armor. However, both of them seemed to get the message, as they looked over to Link as if they had heard him. Link tried a different approach.

_"He did this last time I fought him... You can't fight him under here! I'll try to attack him or something of the sort until he transports us to the next place. Go all the way to the top. Water doesn't completely fill this arena."_ Link said through his mind connection with the other Triforce bearers. Zelda immediately kicked upwards, feeling her ears begin to unpop as she did. Ganondorf glared daggers at Link like it was his fault before following Zelda up.

"Just you and me, kid!" Link never quite understood why Zant could breathe underwater. Maybe because twili didn't need to breathe or something? He shook the thought out of his head as he ran at Zant as fast could with the Master Sword. (Which, incidentally, wasn't very fast because he was wearing the boots.) Link changed the boots back into his normal ones and began to float upwards, but it was a lot easier to fight this way. **(A/N: Screw the game saying that you can't use any weapons while swimming!)**

Link rushed at Zant with grace similar to a Zora and stabbed at the twili, but to no avail. He was met by an energy wave which sent him flying back into one of the walls. He was surprised not to hear his skull crack. Sighing, Link headed straight for Zant again, but it was no use. Without the power of the other two, he was utterly useless.

An energy wave shot down from the top of the area somewhere and knocked Zant into the sand. His power only seemed to be able to work offensively, not defensively. Link quickly swam over to Zant and, with the combined power of the Master Sword and Sols, slammed his sword down on Zant's helmet, instantly shattering it. Zant cried out and the familiar red clock-like object appeared behind him. The images swam before Link's eyes before blackness overtook him again.

**xxxxxx**

They were standing at the base of Death Mountain, only it seemed like Zant had mixed times. The Bulbin archers were standing all around the area, but rocks were also falling from the sky again. Link rolled out of the path of an arrow and a soaring rock. Zant was watching him with a smug expression.

"Two can play at this game." Zelda growled, summoning her bow and light arrows. She notched an arrow, drew the bowstring taut, and released it at Zant, who had been so busy mocking Link that he didn't notice it. The arrow struck him in the back of his right shoulder but, like Ganondorf, it only paralyzed him. The other two were so preoccupied with the rocks and the Bulbins that it wasn't long before Zant regained control of his body.

Zant glared at Zelda and rushed down to her, spinning the hilt of his sword, and knocking her over. **(A/N: LOL. It's like the Wind waker fight all over again.)** Link's eyes widened and his teeth snapped together before he jumped into the air and slammed his sword down on Zant. The black aura flared feet before Link was able to reach him and knocked Link into the side of the mountain.

Zant turned around just in time to be met with Ganondorf's fist, which sent him crashing into the mountain beside Link. Then, he looked over at Zelda with an expectant expression before he punched a few falling rocks, scattering smaller pieces over the area.

Zelda slowly got back to her feet, looked at him, and nodded. "Link!" She cried over to the swordsman. "Get over here--! Hurry!" Link groaned at his seriously painful headache, but, with one glance at Zant, he ran over beside Ganondorf and Zelda, but he was too slow.

The red object reappeared behind Link and now they were in Hyrule field where Zelda and Link had fought Ganondorf and King Bulbin.

Zelda threw the hand embroidered with the Triforce of Wisdom in the air. Then, Link did the same, making an x with his and Zelda's hands. Finally, Ganondorf threw his straight into the air, in the middle of the other two, and Zelda closed her eyes.

"O, Ancient Goddesses, hear my plea! Nayru, Farore, and Din, bless us with the true power of the Triforce!! Allow Power, Wisdom, and Courage to become one to help us defeat the evil that threatens to overtake your world of Hyrule!" Zelda's voice was once again amplified, and as she spoke, Din, Farore, and Nayru appeared behind their respective Triforce bearers.

A golden aura fell over the three of them, and a golden light formed before their hands. Zant was jumping up and down, his last strand of sanity having snapped from the fear. "Wisdom!" Zelda cried, adding a blue light to the ball of energy.

"Courage!" Link shouted, a green light forming around the blue one.

"Power!" roared Ganondorf, the final red light forming around the ball. The recoil was going to be terrible, Zelda could already tell. It was like shooting a powerful shot out of a gun. **(A/n: Which, of course, they didn't have back then.)** The light from the Triforce was drowning out Zant's phony version of Hyrule Field, and the red light appeared behind Zant without him summoning it.

The ball of light finally left their hands and hit Zant when they reached the throne room. The three of them were knocked back into the walls by the entrance while Zant was knocked into the throne. Zant screamed so loudly that, had there been any glass, it would have instantly shattered. His body became no more as a white light filled the room, causing Zelda, Link, and Ganondorf to shield their eyes. Then, the room became red as Zant body burst apart from the attack.

And, at last, the Triforce symbols ceased glowing.

Zelda gagged when she opened her eyes and had to do everything in her power to avoid vomiting. The room was, quite literally, almost completely red at Zant's side of the room. Blood along with Zant's insides were _everywhere_. "I sincerely hope we don't have to clean that up." Link remarked dryly. He also seemed to be holding back sickness. Ganondorf, however, appeared pleased.

He turned to face Zelda and Link with an expectant expression. "Meet me where we last fought Zant. The Triforces of Wisdom and Power _will_ be mine." Ganondorf then disappeared into a swirling black portal. Link and Zelda exchanged dreary expressions. How they were to defeat Ganondorf after using all of their power on Zant, they had no clue. There bodies were tired and bloody, too.

Just then, the red, green, and blue lights from before appeared. Nayru, Farore, and Din smiled at Link and Zelda. "Great work!" Farore cheered happily, patting Link and Zelda on the heads. Din nodded.

"I'm surprised that Ganondorf came back." Link said to Din. "What made him change his mind?" Din grinned.

"Well..."

**xxxxxx**

**Back before Ganondorf came to help Link and Zelda...**

Ganondorf was lounging lazily on one of the cliffs in Zora's domain, awaiting to feel the presences of Link and Zelda to return to this world. He blinked as the presences appeared behind him, but they were... different somehow. He quickly turned around and found himself facing Link and Zelda. Not the same Link and Zelda he had been expecting.

This Zelda's hair was the color of bright, yellow sunshine and her dress wasn't very imaginative. She was wearing a long, pale pinkish-purple evening gown. The top of it looked like a purple shirt and the shoulders had armor protecting them. A thin belt was wrapped around her waist, giving way to a piece of cloth bearing the royal family's crest. Sitting neatly atop her head was a golden diadem. Her usually bright, happy face was frowning and her arms were crossed.

The Link beside her had the same golden hair and was wearing a rather large Kokiri tunic. He had on brown gloves, but the Triforce symbol was shining through the left one. He was armed with what looked like a brand new Master Sword. Link looked as unamused as Zelda, and he was pointing his sword at Ganondorf. The both of them appeared to be about the same age as the Zelda and Link that were in the Twilight Realm at the moment.

"You!" He hissed, angrily. "You ruined my chances to take over Hyrule--! You had me sentenced to death!" Both of them nodded without shame.

"If it hadn't been for our mistakes, you would have never seized power in the first place. So, when I sent Link back in time, he was able to warn the past me, and foiled your plans." Zelda remarked dryly. "You've always been such a fool. After all this time, I can't believe you are alive."

"The Triforce of Power has kept me immortal." Ganondorf replied with a grin, lifting up his hand to prove the point. Link and Zelda rolled their eyes.

"Only our descendants killed you last year, but here you stand because of the gift of the Goddesses." Zelda continued in her dry, unamused tone. "Now, then, Ganondorf, you have a choice..."

"Actually, you have two," Link added, poking the man's large nose with the Master Sword's tip. "One, you can not go to the Twilight Realm and have us haunt you for the rest of your immortal life." He smiled in satisfaction when Ganondorf shivered. "Two, you can help our descendants and have no consequences, and three,"

Ganondorf opened his mouth to protest. "You said that I had _two_ choices!" He protested. Link shrugged his shoulders.

"I lied." He replied lamely. "Three, you can do nothing and have the Goddesses take away your life. So, what's your answer?"

Ganondorf sputtered random words out of anger. "I don't have a choice now, do I?" He spat at the now smug teenagers.

"Nope." Zelda replied happily.

"I'll go to the Twilight Realm..." He muttered, adding a few things about 'unappreciative kids' and being 'too old for this.' Zelda pulled out a blue object with a mouthpiece and began to play an unfamiliar tune. Ganondorf started as his body was surrounded with a blue light, and he disappeared from their sight.

"That worked out well." Zelda said with a large smile as Link gently put his hand in hers. She took a look at the water and frowned. The Goddesses Nayru, Farore, and Din appeared to the side of them, following the dead Princess' gaze.

Farore walked over to the stream that emptied into the bottom of the domain and touched it with her foot. The water instantly began to purify and everything that had died in the water sprang back to life. **(A/n: Except the Zoras. Just the fish and the plants.)**

"I think that things should work out well now." Link stated with a satisfied smile. "Just make sure to tell them to make a wish on the Triforce so that it won't come back... at least, it will return to the Sacred Realm." He turned to Zelda with a curious expression. "Right?" She squeezed his hand and nodded.

"Right."

**xxxxxx**

"It seems that our ancestors are looking out for us after all." Zelda replied with a small smile. Farore headed over to the messy part of the throne room and touched it. The blood began to disappear as well as Zant's insides. Then, she headed over to Midna and was joined by her sisters. They each put one hand on the Twilight Princess' gaping wound. A golden light emitted from them and sealed up Midna's wound along with any of her other wounds.

An orange light surrounded Zelda's body and rushed back into Midna's. Shortly after, Midna sat up and smiled. "See? I knew I could help the fight somehow!" The Goddesses grinned at one another (even Nayru) and used their light magic on Zelda and Link. Their wounds were promptly healed and their energy and magic were restored.

Then, the three goddesses headed to the throne where a black triangle was sitting. A golden, white light came from their hands, and the black triangle was promptly destroyed. "So no one can ever use that power again." Din remarked to the puzzled Midna, Link, and Zelda.

"Ganondorf can be killed now." Nayru told them in a childish voice, still stern with authority. "He has lived for too long, and he has caused too much suffering. Please, take care of him. And don't forget to make a wish on the Triforce when you've killed him." The Goddesses themselves bowed to Link, Zelda, and Midna before disappearing into light. Link and Zelda ran over to Midna.

"Are you alright?" Link asked worriedly, causing Midna to giggle. She put a hand to his face and smiled.

"Of course, silly. Did you not just see them heal me?" Midna allowed her hand to fall to her side and her smiled turned sad. "Link, it's alright. You two should go and take care of Ganondorf."

Link's eyes widened. "But, what about you?" He asked with a question of two meanings. She shook her head.

"My race is pretty much extinct, Link. Even if I wanted to have you, and believe me, I do, I couldn't. I have to rebuild the twili race, okay?" Midna said, still smiling sadly. "Besides," She said, grabbing Link and Zelda's hands. "You two were destined to be together. Trust me, I know these things." Midna gave both of their hands light squeezes. "I'll be here with the fully restored mirror, waiting for you to tell me how you two did."

Zelda and Link's faces had both turned to the red colors of apples. Link got up and helped up Midna and Zelda. They gave Midna a small wave before heading for the door. "Wait! Let me help you guys out one more time." She snapped and a portal appeared on the ground. "It'll lead you guys to where you're fighting Ganondorf." She stated unnecessarily. "Also, guys, be careful. Please." Zelda and Link smiled and nodded at her before stepping into the portal.

When they were gone, Midna dropped to her knees and closed her eyes. "I wonder if I did the right thing?" She asked herself, a small tear sliding down her face.  


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**A/n: Okay, guys, expect a chapter tomorrow some time. I couldn't think of anything better to do with the combined power of the three pieces of the triforce, though, I'm sorry. D: By the way, I'm sure I'm saying this without needing to, but I just wanted to say it just in case. Link and Zelda are descendants of the Link and Zelda from OoT, BUT only Zelda is blood related to the other Zelda. I don't know about Link... I think he's probably reincarnated or something. Anyway. It's not incest, okay? xD Especially since the Link and Zelda of that time never technically got together. See you guys next chapter! -heart-**


	18. Pressure

**A/N: I'm pretty sure this is going to be the last chapter with fighting in it, but you never really know with me. Haha. Anyway, we'll start off with Zelda and Link, who are now in Hyrule Field behind where Hyrule Castle stood.**

**By the way, this chapter contains a HUGE OoT reference as I'm going to include characters from it. Just thought I'd warn you. Well, I guess it isn't as much of a reference as it is a straight up entering the OoT characters into this chapter. xD**

**There will probably be two more chapters. Next chapter will wrap up everything and the chapter after that will be an epilogue. I'm thinking that once I finish this, I might put up the other story I started a while ago, but I also want to do some OoT stuff and TP based stuff before the kids were kidnapped. Enjoy! :3  


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How long had they been in the twilight realm? It had been bright when they were at Zora's Domain and now the sun was setting. Ganondorf was also no where to be found.**

"Maybe he changed his mind." Zelda quietly suggested. Link laughed humorlessly.

"Right, and pigs can fly." He snorted. Zelda, who was looking down at her feet, suddenly yanked herself and Link away from where they were standing. Link shot her a questioning glance as the force of her pull made them fall onto the ground. The ground vibrated behind them like an earthquake was about to start, but then nothing happened. Link felt hot breath on the back of his neck as they sat up in the opposite direction of whatever was behind them.

"Apparently," Zelda said in a tight voice as they slowly stood up and turned around, "Pigs _can_ fly." The thing they were facing wasn't a pig: It was a gigantic boar with a red mane. It was Ganon.

_'I really need to learn to shut my mouth,'_ Link remarked to himself as he grabbed Zelda and pulled her behind him. He brandished his sword and almost wanted to hit himself. Like his sword was going to do anything for him. "Zelda, I'm going to figure out a plan, but go over there," He indicated some far off area to the side of the field. She opened her mouth to protest, but he put up a hand. "Please. If I have to protect you, I can't defeat him." Frowning, Zelda slowly backed away before turning on her heel and running the rest of the way.

_'How am I going to get myself out of this one?'_ He mused to himself as Ganon slammed his two front legs on the ground, paralyzing Link's body. **(A/N: Stole this idea from Ganondorf's final smash in Super Smash Bros. Brawl.)** Link struggled to regain control of his body, but he couldn't even force his muscles to twitch. Then, Ganon slammed his tusks into Link's body, throwing the swordsman fifty feet away with blood flying out of his body. Zelda bit her lip so hard that she felt her teeth break the skin. She quickly summoned her bow and light arrows.

Since Ganondorf had died, his weak spot from before, the cut from the sages, had not reappeared after being revived. There was really no weak spot on him now; They would just have to wear him down until he changed forms and then Zelda would initiate her plan. "Ganon!" She yelled to the boar, who had been about ready to charge at Link. He shifted his attention to her and snorted. Although she was far from him, it was still close enough to get a whiff of his obnoxious breath. Ganon snarled as she pointed the arrow glowing with light at him and rushed at her.

Zelda very much would have liked to close her eyes, but she didn't. She pointed her arrow at the marking on his forehead. Ganon had the brain of a beast and, therefore, he didn't bother to try and avoid the arrow. The arrow hit him straight on, paralyzing his body. Zelda looked around for Link, but he wasn't moving, and she couldn't run to him. Instead, she unsheathed her rapier and ran at Ganondorf. She hacked away at his forehead. Then, she lifted the blade inches from his eye, but she was neatly knocked aside by his tusks as he got back up. His very _sharp_ tusks.

She gasped at the gaping hole in her side and tried to ignore the tears that were stinging her eyes. They were so painfully unprepared to fight him that it wasn't even funny. "How is it possible that you're even stronger than before?"

"Perhaps you're just too weak to handle me." He growled at her before rushing at her again. With her head spinning, Zelda rolled out of the way and quickly jumped back to her feet. Growling and snorting, Ganon turned himself around as quickly as possible and rushed at her again. Zelda made to jump out of the way, but her dress was caught by one of the tusks. Closer up, his breath made Zelda feel nauseous. She wriggled and twitched around, but she couldn't free herself.

The Triforce of Wisdom began to glow, making Ganon halt in his tracks as the light blinded him. Sheik began to drop to the ground as his transformation freed him from Ganon's tusks, but climbed up them and jumped on his snout instead. "You're finished now!" He raised the rapier sword once more and stabbed down. Ganon roared painfully, causing Sheik to remove the sword and clutch his ears. Ganon took Sheik's distraction to his advantage and slammed on all fours, and his body froze up. Just as Link had, Sheik was knocked fifty feet away with fresh wounds causing blood to pour onto the ground below.

Sheik slammed into the ground beside Link, surprised that he hadn't broken his neck. Well, he had broken something. His sword arm, the right one, hung uselessly beside his body. "Link?" He winced as he crawled over to said swordsman and touched his shoulder. Link did not move. "Link..." Sheik put his index and middle finger to Link's neck. The pulse was so light that Sheik had almost thought that he was...

The ground was shaking again which could only mean that Ganon was approaching them. Sheik didn't even realize he was crying until he noticed the teardrops dropping onto the teardrops on his outfit. Suddenly, the ground stopped shaking. Ganondorf was standing before them, his left, golden eye no longer visible with all of the blood pouring from it. His forehead was bleeding down, covering his other eye, too. For the most part, though, Ganondorf was fine. Maybe he was just tired.

Without thinking, Sheik jumped to his feet and threw out his arms, even forcing his right one to move. Ganondorf laughed as he had once before: He laughed like a crazy man. "The Goddesses have given me a second chance which means that they believe that I will be victorious." Lightning touched down somewhere in the distance, and the sky was exploding with the sounds of thunder, but Sheik didn't care.

"That's not true." He replied quietly to the evil king. Rain was falling down, making his hair stick to his face. "If the Goddesses knew you were going to kill both of us, they wouldn't have revived us. They knew that one of us would come out alive." His voice sounded strangely calm which deeply surprised and satisfied him. _"Even though the one who will come out alive will be me."_

"How right you are, Princess." Ganondorf remarked. Sheik hadn't even been aware that he had used the Triforce connection, but maybe because he was in the Sheikah form... "You were foolish, however," He continued as he unsheathed the glowing light sword, "if you thought that you would come out alive, too."

Sheik glanced at his right arm, which seemed to have collapsed to his side at its own will and sighed inwardly. He then glanced around for his sword, which he found not too far away. Shooting one last glance at Ganondorf, he dove for the sword. Ganondorf's armored boot painfully met Sheik's hand. "What's wrong? Did you really think I would allow you to take up arms against me so easily?" Sheik's eyes twitched towards the sheathed Master Sword, and Ganondorf barked a laugh. "If you think you can take that sword, you have another thing coming. Not only is it impossible for an evil person to take it, but a weak-hearted person cannot grasp it, either."

Sheik cried out as Ganondorf stepped harder on his hand. "You're evil _and_ weak-hearted, Ganondorf. Don't apply your characteristics to me."

Ganondorf's smile quickly crumpled into a frown. "You take up that disguise and suddenly believe that you are more powerful than _I_, the Great Evil King, Ganondorf?" He snatched Sheik by the front of his shirt, the turtle-neck part. "I have saved you on several occasions during our little truce, but no more! I am going to make this field run red with your blood, you insolent little girl!" Ganondorf hurled Sheik over his head so fast that the latter's head began to spin.

He fell to the ground, landing shoulder first. Sheik opened his eyes but everything was still spinning. He inhaled sharply as he got back up. His right arm hurt so badly that it was unbelievable, but he had at least managed to hold onto his sword. He shifted the hilt over to his left hand and turned around. "I suggest you change back into your true form, Zelda. When they bury you, they'll want to know who it _is_ that they're burying. Not that there are many left in Hyrule who would willingly bury you after the damnation you have sentenced them to." Sheik felt a pang in his heart. _That_ was a soft spot. Growling, he ran at the king of evil with his left hand, a hand that he had never used for writing or sword fighting.

Ganondorf happily met Sheik's rapier with his light sword and easily pushed the Sheikah off. "What's wrong, never fought a real enemy with this sword before?" Sheik glared at his opponent as he stumbled back. "Link isn't here to save you this time, Princess. I _killed_ him!"

"That's where you're wrong!" Both Sheik and Link cried at the same time. Link slammed the Master Sword down on Ganondorf's shoulder, cutting away the skin and even the muscles to see the white of his bone.

"How dare you?!" roared Ganondorf in anger and pain. He jumped away from the advance of the two men and briefly examined his shoulder. Once again, he roared in anger. "I will kill you! I will destroy the both of you so badly that your features will be unrecognizable!"

Light engulfed Sheik as he became Zelda once more. Her dress was torn awfully and was also drenched in blood. However, she offered Link her hand like nothing. "Let's take care of him once and for all!" The rapier sword dropped to the ground, forgotten by its owner as she took both of Link's hands in her own. "I thought you were dead, Link..." She murmured quietly enough that only he could hear her. He flashed a brief smile.

"Obviously, you don't know me that well." He remarked as golden light engulfed their bodies, making Ganondorf look away from them. Both of their hands marked with the Triforce were glowing, and they felt the familiar surge of power enter them. When the light faded and they looked at Ganondorf, he was laughing.

"What're you laughing at, Ganondorf? You're crazy!" Zelda cried smugly to the King of Evil. **(A/N: Lolz at WW reference. xD)**

"Even with the combined force of Wisdom and Courage, you two are _still _**weaker** than me!" He replied, sputtering with uncontrollable, crazy laughter.

"Not for long, scum!" Ganondorf's blood ran cold at the voice. The voice was of a female, but it was a bit deeper and had a very, very smug tone to it. He whirled around only to be met with the foot of a very attractive Gerudo women. Caught by surprise, Ganondorf held his head and stumbled back a few inches. The Gerudo women turned toward Zelda and Link and winked. "I've _always_ wanted to do that." She confessed to them. Zelda and Link blinked with surprise to find Nabooru standing before them with the other five sages behind her.

"Wh-...what's... How...?" Zelda tried to ask but found herself unable to form the question. She jumped when a hand grasped her shoulder. Oddly enough, she found herself staring into the bright blue eyes of her ancestor. The older Zelda **(A/N: Although, apparently, the Zelda and Link in OOT start off as 10 and become 17... D:)** shook her head and put her finger to her lips.

"We had a feeling that you would need our help." She said as she held up a beautiful, blue ocarina. "I am the sage of time, therefore I can technically move to any time I want." Her descendant's eyes flicked over to the sages and then back. "And I can take anyone with me, too."

"Where's the Hero of Time?" Link asked, eyes trailing over to Ganondorf, who was apparently too afraid to move. The older Zelda smiled and pushed her golden blond hair behind her pointed ears. Then, she put her hand over Link's heart.

"Right there." Now Zelda and Link took on incredulous expressions.

"B-but the Goddesses said that he was with you when you two sc-scared Ganondorf into helping us..." The younger Zelda stammered. Her ancestor merely smiled and shook her head.

"It's too hard to understand and to explain."

"What a resemblance!" The Goron, Darunia, boomed as he looked over Zelda and Link.

Saria slowly nodded her head. "Yeah..." Her eyes were burning into Link's, making him nervous.

"Look at this one!" Nabooru hooted, overlooking Ganondorf, who still seemed paralyzed with fear. "You got _old_, Ganondorf." Her remark seemed to shatter his fear.

"And I still see that you're as stupid as ever, Nabooru." Ganondorf growled at her. "Why do you look the same?"

"Different timeline, ignorant old fool." She replied as she flicked a piece of red hair out of her face.

"How are you going to help us?" Link asked the older Zelda. "Is Nabooru going to argue him to death?" The older Zelda giggled. Wow, she seemed free even though she had been plagued by such awful things at a young age.

"We're going to give you our power." She replied with a small nod. Her descendant blinked.

"Won't that mess up your timeline?" She asked, utterly confused.

"No, because it won't be permanent; Just until you win." The older Zelda answered patiently. "I know it's hard to understand." She then turned to the other sages with a serious expression and tone. "Six sages, lend your power to the Princess and the Hero! The time for evil to fall is now!" The six sages all became very serious all of a sudden and changed their stances. Saria looked like she was praying while the others readied their arms like they were about to fight, which they were, in a way.

Then, the older Zelda followed suit. Her pink light abruptly entered her descendant's body as did Rauru's golden light. Impa's purple light also entered her. Ruto's blue light entered Link, as did Saria's green light, and Darunia's orange light. Finally, Nabooru's light seemed to linger around Ganondorf before entering Zelda as well. It was then that the two of them realized that they never let their hands go. "Will it still work if we let go?" Zelda muttered to Link who released her hand to point at the symbols on both of their hands.

Instead of just having the bottom left triangle in Zelda's Triforce-marked hand glow, the right one was also glowing. The same was true of Link instead with the left. She nodded at him to go ahead while she stayed back.

Link unsheathed the Master Sword and ran at Ganondorf with an amazing speed that nearly took the King by surprise since the only agile person within Link was Saria. He swung his sword at the King, who quickly avoiding it, but he swung it again and an energy blast came from it. Ganondorf gaped in horror at the magical power as an orange, blue, and three different shades of green mixed into one energy blast came for him. He slammed his sword into the ground, but it was no longer glowing with light energy, no doubt due to Rauru.

The energy wave literally broke apart and went around the sword to meet the inside of Ganondorf's stomach. The wave had become more of an impaling move as it went all the way through Ganondorf and rushed back into the Master Sword. Ganondorf roared and cried (at the same time) as he began to know what pain and one hundred years of anger felt like. His golden eye flickered to Zelda, and he was promptly met by another magic attack.

Pure white light shot from her two hands and was joined by yellow, purple, pink, and red light. This light tore right through Ganondorf's chest. Link ran at the King again with Zelda right behind him. They simultaneously slammed their swords down into the King of Evil's chest although he would have died from the other wounds they had inflicted. The purple, pink, red, blue, yellow, orange, and three different shades of green were clinging onto both swords like a cloud and inflicted ten times more pain. Ganondorf's scream hardly made it out of his throat as the magical energy tore it up. Blood erupted like a fountain from his chest.

Link and Zelda made sure to painfully yank out their swords from his body. His eyes still had a little bit of light in them. The seven sages were materializing behind Link and Zelda and crowded around Ganondorf to watch the light leave his eyes. The older Zelda quickly looked to her descendant with an urgent expression. "Take his hand, Zelda." She said so fast that Zelda almost didn't catch it. However, the younger Zelda fell to her knees and took the hand marked with the Triforce. "Now, believe that you can take it from him. Think very hard." Once again, following her ancestor's instructions, Zelda did as she was told.

To her surprise, golden light engulfed Ganondorf's hand and a large, golden triangle appeared over her head. "Link, Zelda, release your own triforce pieces." Link and Zelda fell quiet as they concentrated on freeing their pieces. Another triangle appeared over Zelda, and Link's appeared over him. Slowly, the three came together to form the Triforce.

"Now what?" Link asked, turning toward the older Zelda. She sighed with satisfaction and smiled.

"Now you make your own wish." She replied. "The person who touches the Triforce will have whatever wish they want granted. There is one catch, however," Zelda said, making her descendant and Link freeze in their steps. "Don't wish that what has happened with Ganondorf to never have happened... That will cause a lot of chaos on many different timelines... However, you can wish for anything you want besides that." The older Zelda took a few steps back and fell before the sages with the Ocarina raised. "The future is yours for the taking."

Saria smiled sadly at them. "Take care of them!" It wouldn't be until much later that Link realized Saria had been talking to the Hero of Time sleeping within him.

"Be good!" Nabooru added with a wink as Zelda began to play the notes of the Song of Time. A blue light surrounded the seven of them, and they began to disappear. Link and Zelda waved helplessly at them as they disappeared into the sky, then they turned toward each other.

"You make the wish, Zelda." He said, smiling as he put a hand on her shoulder.

"I wish..." She began, but the rest of her sentence was drowned out by the thunder in the distance. The two of them watched as the three pieces broke apart and floated off in different directions over the cloudy sky. Link grinned at her.

"That was a great wish." He assured her as he enveloped her in a hug.

"Now we can finally have our era of peace."  


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**A/N: Oh, I am so cruel. Hope you guys liked the fight... it was very hard to write. xD For one, I had to find the right song for it, which I found in "Born For This" by Paramore... xD Not even Bat Country helped! So, the outcome of this chapter was thanks to the Paramore song. xDD**

**See you guys next chapter!**


	19. Memoirs to the Moon

**A/N: You know, I haven't commented on the reviews, and I really should. 71 reviews really isn't bad at all... In fact, it's so excellent. I never ever expected my story to become this popular, so thank you to all of the readers and especially all of my reviewers. You guys have a special place in my heart. **

**Welcome to the last chapter of The War to End All Wars. I think I'm going to recognize my reviewers at the end because you guys have just made writing this story so fun. Your reviews make me laugh.**

**So, originally I was going to have this chapter wrap things up and next chapter be an epilogue (mostly because I don't want to end on an odd number xD), but I'm just combining them into one. xD Sorry. I have no clue why I titled this chapter what I did... I guess it's kinda a play on the lyrics from "If Only, If Only" by Fiction Plane (which I obviously listened to while writing this).**

**Disclaimer-I own Legend of Zelda now! -Gasp- Only I don't. Haha. Bad joke. Anyway, I own my plot. :D  


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The promise of a free future was so satisfying that Link and Zelda couldn't help but beam. They were weak, they were in severe pain, but they were happy. And the wish had taken place almost immediately.**

The storm had died just as soon as the wish began, and Zelda felt a little guilty that she hadn't picked something different. It still remained that those innocent lives lost when Zant took the Dark Piece remained lost. However, Zelda had wished for something that would make even the dead satisfied.

She had wished for peace to fall over Hyrule. A peace that could not be intercepted by any other wack jobs looking for power. The three pieces of the Triforce had set off in different directions, but they had really just gone to different ends of the Sacred Realm. If anyone could get there now, then they would really have to persevere.

Link and Zelda laid down in Hyrule Field with the sunlight shining brightly over them. They were as tired as they could possibly be and didn't really feel like moving yet. Yet.

**xxxxxx**

"It looks like the dark clouds of evil have cleared." One of the Gorons remarked to the Patriarch, Darbus. One by one, the Hylians and other humans filed out of the hiding place in the entrance to Goron mines and into the fresh air outside.

"They're really somethin'." Telma remarked as the wind blew stray hairs that had fallen out of her ponytail into her face. The sun was bright and beautiful. Shad adjusted his glasses.

"Yes. Quite."

**xxxxxx**

Ilia smiled at the brightness of the sky outside. Since Link had left the village, the weather hadn't been all that nice, and the clouds had remained dark and ominous. It had kind of been like they were reflecting her feelings. She turned toward the rest of the villagers to meet them with a glare as they filed out of their houses. "He did it. I told you that we can trust him." She stated in a stern, angry voice with her hands on her hips.

Rusl slowly nodded and bowed his head. "We have made a grave mistake. _I_ have made a grave mistake."

Ilia walked past him and quickly asked Uli's permission to hold her baby girl. "You're right. We all have. You can't judge a wolf by its cover, right Nilla?" She asked, tickling the baby's chest.

**xxxxxx**

**At the Boat Rental Shop located in Upper Zora's river...**

"Hey, Keely," Iza called to the Zora floating in the water as she entered the shop. "You have a visitor outside." Keely blinked, pointing at herself with a puzzled expression. Who could possibly be here for her besides another Zora? She had been informed that all of the Zoras, including her King, had been murdered. After receiving another short nod from her boss, Keely dove underwater and squeezed herself through a small opening in the dam.

When she surfaced outside of the shop, she was surprised to see a male Zora looking extremely nervous. She recognized him; He was her best friend, Rhett. "Rhett, what are you _doing_ here?" She asked, quickly swimming over to him, and wrapping him in a huge hug. "You went to Death Mountain and never came back... And things were pretty sour there, I thought that something happened to you..." Keely murmured, blinking through relieved tears.

He smiled and squeezed her. "Keely, I think that we're the last two Zoras alive! We're so lucky. You're boss was so kind to make you stay in the shop, otherwise..." Rhett trailed off suggestively before shaking his head. "But I'm here now. Being the last two Zoras, though, Keely... we need to rebuild our race, our empire..."

She was blushing **(A/N: Is that even POSSIBLE for a fish?)** at what he was getting at. "I-I know... but I have to stay here... Who else is going to help Iza...?" On the makeshift bridge behind them, said Hylian cleared her throat. Blushing something awful, the two Zoras turned to face her.

"Now, Keely, how dare you! Even I'm sensitive enough to allow you to leave for that amount of time!" Iza yelled, pretending (or so Keely hoped) to be cross. "Anyway, you guys like each other, right? And you have a duty to your race! So, go on, you two love bugs. Get busy." Iza turned on her heel and headed inside her shop, but not before catching her sister, Hena's, eye from where the girl was poking her head out of the door to her fishing hole.

"To Zora's domain we go!" Rhett cheered, picking Keely up bridal style as he swam up the river.

**xxxxxx**

**Some years later...**

Queen Zelda poked her head into the throne room and was quickly greeted by one of her soldiers. "Ah, Pr--I mean, Queen Zelda! We have finally finished, but we have to ask you to wait outside a minute." She blinked, wondering what was going on, but allowed herself to be pushed out of the room. She turned away from the throne room and admired the sky.

It was getting close to the evening, and the sun was beginning to set, causing beautiful colors to appear in the sky. The throne room was very high up, and it was perfect for admiring twilight. A pair of gloved hands obscured her vision of the marvelous sunset, and she frowned.

"Link..." She murmured impatiently, trying to grab his arms to reclaim her sight.

"Nope!" The cheerful voice replied. "Try again."

Zelda sighed. "That is to say _King_ Link... better?" The hands released her eyes, whirled her around by the waist, and his lips met hers in one fluid movement. When they parted, Zelda was smiling again.

"Much." He said with a grin, "But you have to close your eyes when you go in. Standard procedure." She rolled her eyes, still smiling, and played along. Her azure eyes disappeared under her eyelids, and he carefully leaded her into the room. "Eyes still covered?"

"Mmhm." She replied although they were open a little.

"Cover your eyes, dear." He said without looking at her. Giggling, she did so and allowed him to lead her into the room some more. "Alright, open them!" When she did, she gasped. Admiring the repaired statue of Din, Nayru, and Farore around the Triforce was none other than the Twilight Princess and the King of the Twilight.

"Midna!" Zelda gasped and bolted across the room in a very unroyalty-like manner. She threw her arms around the tall twili who laughed at her antics and returned the hug.

"Boy, you sure don't act your age... You still act seventeen!" Midna cackled. Zelda looked over her with admiration. It didn't look like Midna had aged much at all.

Zelda frowned for the second time that almost evening. "I'm not _that_ old. I'm only twenty-three." Midna only grinned.

"You already have a kid! You need to act mature!" She chided her friend as she gestured to the two year old tottering over to them. The circlet on the girl's dirty blond head fell to the ground. Link laughed and picked up the little girl and the circlet.

"Hey, so do you, Midna!" He reminded her as a three year old boy shyly poked his head from around his mother's legs. The boy's hair was mostly orange with some yellow and it was all over the place. He looked a lot like his father, but his face was definitely his mother's.

"Hi, Pierce." Zelda greeted Midna's husband. His hair was exactly like his son's. It was very messed up, but his hair was completely dark orange. Pierce nodded his head at Link and kissed Zelda's hand. Goddesses, he was gorgeous. He was very well-built, too.

"Hadden." The little girl said to the boy. Link chuckled as he set his daughter on the ground and replaced her circlet.

"Why don't you play with Saria, Hadden?" Midna gently said to her son, giving him a gentle push toward the little girl. He nodded, grabbed Saria's hand, and practically dragged her to the other side of the room where he began to show her a play sword. Midna giggled at her little boy. "His father was so insistent on making and giving the sword to him..."

"You should see Link in the morning when he's training... He shows off to Saria!" Zelda said, shaking her head. "He acts a lot like you, Link." Midna and Link's eyes met for an instant, a blush forming on their cheeks as they quickly looked away.

"And you haven't been showing her your ninja moves? That surprises me." Midna remarked with a raised eyebrow. Zelda smiled and shook her head again.

"You know as well as I do that I haven't been able to do that since I lost the Triforce of Wisdom." She replied in an almost sad voice. "But, anyway," Zelda said, perking up immediately. "Let's go to the dining hall... I have a surprise for Link." Midna and Pierce groaned.

"All the way down there?!" They demanded. "Why does your throne room have to be so high up? The people that come to see you are lucky that you're not up here all the time, otherwise they'd have to have one fun walk up here." Pierce and Midna ranted. No wonder they had gotten married.

Zelda laughed as she went over to Saria and picked her up. "Sorry." She said without meaning it.

"Oh, the kids have got it easy." stated Midna as she picked up Hadden. "They get to be carried all the way down! Wait until poor Saria can walk flawlessly, then she'll have to walk up ten million floors!"

"Oh, like you didn't get it easy when we first came here," Link said to Midna as they began the long walk downstairs. "You got to hide in my shadow!" Midna laughed.

"Ah, that was the life!"

**xxxxxx**

_'Take it easy. Take it easy... It'll be alright, calm down...'_ A young, twenty-three year old light brown-haired girl muttered to herself in the foyer of the Castle. Her dress wasn't magnificent; She wasn't made of money, after all. She was wearing her same old, simple beige outfit tied in the back with green lace. For once, she had ditched the brown pants. Well, she had for a while since she had turned nineteen. Her hair still drifted to one side behind her neck, and she was still plain. Although any one else besides her said otherwise.

Her soft, brown hair was bright and shone beautifully under any light. It even seemed to glow at night. She was wearing a thick and beautiful collar-like necklace that was the same jade color as her eyes. Her shoes weren't that special, though, they were just brown sandles.

_'It's not too late to leave...'_ She reminded herself. She was actually debating whether or not she should leave when she heard the Queen's voice.

"Ah, good, you're here!" Zelda called down to her. She put on her best smile possible and turned to face the dirty blond Pr--Queen.

She fell into a courtesy. "Good evening, Queen Zelda." Zelda smiled.

"Oh, cut the formalities, Ilia. You can just call me Zelda." The Queen replied to Link's childhood friend. She shot a side glance at Link, who's mouth had dropped open, then she turned back to Midna and Pierce. "Let's get into the dining room and leave this two to their chat." She led the way down the stairs and, with one last wave to Ilia, into the dining room. Midna also waved at Ilia before she and her husband followed Zelda.

"Ilia, I..." Link murmured as he came a few feet within his childhood friend. He felt so uneasy before her, but why...? Oh, that's right. The same reason why he felt uneasy near Midna.

"Would it be alright if we took a walk before dinner, Link?" She asked, smiling almost genuinely at him. To her surprise, he didn't slip into the dining room to ask Zelda for permission, he instead nodded and led the way outside. They walked around the fountains in the courtyard of the castle, and Ilia could tell he felt uneasy. "Do you feel oddly because of my presence? I can go, if you want..." She murmured disappointedly. He hastily shook his head.

"It's not you," He promised as his eyes flickered to the sky. "After all this time, I'm still not used to being out here without having my life threatened by wild beasts. Same thing inside the Castle." She looked at him and decided that he was mostly telling her the truth.

"How has your life been treating you?" She asked him softly as they walked into a new area of the courtyard, completely filled with trees and flowers. Link grinned at her.

"It's been great. I don't know if you saw her, but I have a beautiful daughter, and things are just fine here. Things are even great outside of the Castle, from what I've seen. How about you?" He added, frightened that he had somehow offended her. She smiled almost without humor.

"Things in the village are slow, as always. I've taken over as Mayor of the village... Dad got sick," She explained, and quickly added, "Oh, but he's still alive! Uli is still the matriarch of our... I mean... the village, and Nilla's really cute. Not at all annoying like Beth was, and still _is_. She and Talo are officially together, by the way. Colin's the secondary swordsman of the village... Rusl is still our primary one, of course. Jaggle's still pretty lazy, and Pergie is still the secondary cook although I'm getting pretty good if I do say so myself. Fado misses you terribly, he says. Honestly, I think he just doesn't like herding the goats." Ilia was almost out of breath when she was finished. "That's about it, though."

"What about you?" Link asked quietly, and he immediately knew what he was talking about.

"Oh, no one yet. Maybe soon, though." She said, looking toward the direction Castle Town was in. "Maybe I'll find someone in the town." She joked. "But I'm happy, Link, really." He nodded slowly.

"I just want you to know that no one will ever be good enough for you." He said with one of his breathtaking smiles. "Just wanted to remind you." She laughed and nodded.

"Gotcha."

"Link! Ilia!" Zelda's voice echoed through the area. They exchanged looks and laughed.

"We'd better get going. I'm going to tell her you made us late!" Ilia said, sticking out her tongue at Link as she ran for the Castle.

**xxxxxx**

"You're sure it was a good idea to let the two of them go off alone? What if they run off together and get married?" Midna asked Zelda across the long, dining table. The Queen shook her head.

"They won't. I trust Link. Besides, if he does, everyone in Hyrule will probably be looking to kill him... Except those in Ordona, probably." She added in afterthought. Just then, Ilia and Link entered with smiles on their faces. Zelda shot Midna an 'I told you so' look.

"Auntie Ili!" Saria cried happily as Ilia sat beside her.

**xxxxxx**

Several courses later found the group of them outside in the very back of the Courtyard, near the graveyard that was no longer closed off from the rest of the Castle.

The full moon was hanging high in the sky above them, and the two children were asleep in their father's arms. "I almost want to howl at the moon." Link said with a grin, causing the girls to giggle although Pierce had no clue what he was talking about.

"Some things are better left unsaid." Midna had told him when Link had asked her a lot earlier if her husband knew. She also said that she had destroyed the magic, so there was little chance of Link transforming into a wolf ever again. There was also little chance of Zelda transforming back into Sheik unless she met some serious dark magic, and even then, it might not happen.

"It's beautiful." Zelda said without shivering as a nice cold breeze blew through the summer air.

"This is the world you guys created after all," Midna remarked with a nod. "Good for you."

Zelda shook her head. "Good for the Triforce."

"So," Link began as he turned toward Midna. "How are things in the twilight realm?"

"Well, like I've said before, there were a lot more twili than I expected after Zant was killed, and they've managed to repopulate the race, luckily enough." She replied with a smile. "Very very good. Maybe the Twilight Gods are looking over us after all."

"I dunno, Midna. Din, Farore, and Nayru took a liking to you, I think." Zelda joked with the twili who also laughed.

"Ah, I guess I should head back. I'm staying at Telma's bar, by the way," She added to Link and Zelda. "I had to visit her. She and I are going to Ralis' grave in Kakariko tomorrow because we wanted to see Barnes, Luda, and Renado, too. Telma's thinking of moving to Kakariko finally."

"That's right, they're getting married!" Link said, gently hitting his forehead.

"Who?" Midna asked hesitantly. "Barnes and Telma?"

"Goddesses, no!" Ilia replied, laughing. "Telma and Renado!" Midna sighed with relief.

"Thank the Gods."

"Anyway, I'll come say goodbye in the morning. Take care Midna, Pierce. Give the little guy love from me when he wakes up." Ilia said before waving and leaving the courtyard. That had turned out to be a lot more fun than she had expected.

"That's right, you guys buried Ralis in Kakariko with his parents. Where'd you bury the other Zoras?" Midna asked, tilting her head to the side.

"The Lakebed temple which was empty of all monsters. It just seemed right." Zelda replied. "That's the place that Princess Ruto was buried when she died, too. There wasn't any room left in Kakariko anyway."

Midna nodded. "Well, that was nice of you two."

Zelda smiled coyly. "Hey, a promise is a promise."

**xxxxxx**

If the night sky was beautiful back in the courtyard of Hyrule Castle, then it was absolutely breathtaking in the desert. Zelda, Link, and Midna were standing in the Mirror Chamber with an air of eerie familiarity to the night. Pierce slowly climbed the mirror's steps to join his wife.

"That was really nice, guys, we've gotta do that again some other time, alright?" Midna said with a smile. "It was fun." Zelda giggled.

"You're right. You guys can drop by any time you want... I promise that I'm not in the throne room often." She added with a grin. Midna rolled her eyes and gently hit her arm.

"'Bye, Saria." Midna whispered, patting the little girl's head.

"Goodbye, Hadden," Zelda and Link whispered to the little boy. They still felt awkward around Pierce, but they were hoping that that would change soon.

"Anyway, see you guys." Midna said with one last wave as she turned toward the portal that the mirror was about to send them. "By the way, Zelda," She added as she turned to face the Queen one more time.

Zelda blinked. "What is it?"

"Remember when you said that we were two sides of the same coin?" Midna asked with a small smile. Zelda nodded.

"Of course. That was when I was trying to convince you to stay."

"You never did tell me what the rim was. Goodbye." Midna and Pierce's bodies dissolved into light particles that faded into the vortex of the mirror, which was giving off the only light. When they were gone, the light stopped, and Zelda and Link faced each other with smiles.

* * *

**A/N: The end! That's it, yep. I know it sounds like there's going to be a sequel, but I have no ideas for one. xD I know I got this up pretty fast, too, but I'm satisfied with how it ended. Midna's last line was made by Lesser, by the way. For the record, the female leader in the Twilight Realm is always a Princess and the male is always the King. Don't ask me why. xD I had some pretty nasty errors in here... They were actually kinda funny... I should've left them. xD Anyway, thank you guys for all of your reading and reviews! Which reminds me... Time to honor my reviewers!**

**Shadow Archer - You were one of my first reviewers, and I think you were the only one who stuck with this story all the way through. Thank you so much!**

**Sakurahanaalice - Hope I got that right. xD You've also stuck with me since the beginning and your reviews always seem to make me laugh. They're also very insightful.**

**The-Lesser-of-two-Goods - Well, you kinda got the upperhand over everyone else. xD Thank you so much for reading my story though it was pretty boring at times and has had bad grammatical errors. Thanks for appreciating my subtle humor ('specially the Zant joke xD), as well as my cruel/dark humor.**

**Lettuce - You aren't an official fanfic user, but you've reviewed a few times. Thank you so much for your reviews... they boosted my confidence! :3**

**AtemuManaLover - Your reviews make me so happy. They made me wanna write more. xD You also wanting the ZeLink pairing made me laugh. xD**

**Silver the Shiny - I know I shouldn't have favorites, but you're definitely one of my tops. Your reviews are really funny and they made me smile. A lot. Thanks so much. Especially thank you for appreciating the joke. xD**

**Kage of Seireitei - You were one of the people who begged me for the ZeLink pairings, which made me laugh. xD Thanks so much for your many reviews.**

**UnbowedUnbroken - I'm not sure how many times you reviewed, but I definitely appreciated it. -heart-**

**Lady.Zayriah - I think you only reviewed once, but your review in chapter fourteen made me laugh... xD But you might even review once this chapter is up, so I shouldn't say that. xD**

**Archmagi - So, i think you only reviewed once, too, but your review was very insightful and the fact that you appreciated my joke was nice. xD But you might even review once this chapter is up, so I shouldn't say that. xD**

**darkangel8694 - You reviewed once, I think, too, but I appreciated it. xD -heart- But you might even review once this chapter is up, so I shouldn't say that. xD**

**Solo384-Also only one review, but I definitely appreciated it. But you might even review once this chapter is up, so I shouldn't say that. xD**

**I know I didn't get ALL of the reviewers, so thank you everyone who has ever reviewed! An addittional thank you goes to anyone who reviews in the future. You guys have been just great, thank you so much! Keep your eyes peeled for my next fanfic! Take care everyone! Love, Igor Lollipop.**


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